


Upside Down Below

by NullBubby



Series: A Marvelous Mage [1]
Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Caves, Dungeon, Gen, Torture, crazy captor dude is crazy, kid magolor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23453701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NullBubby/pseuds/NullBubby
Summary: (Rewritenow in the works.)One is the most kind and caring person anyone had ever met, and is ready to do whatever it takes to keep the others safe, no matter the circumstancesOne is probably too young to be going on any sort of adventure, but it's not like he has much of a choice.One's got no idea what's going on and just wants some food.None have any idea how they ended up together, or what they're supposed to do, but they'll figure a way home somehow.
Relationships: Susie | Susanna Patrya Haltmann & Magolor
Series: A Marvelous Mage [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756462
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Light's Edge

Everything was going nicely at first. Dozing off, leaving all troubles and worries behind for the time being, and just relaxing in general. Dreaming some dreams, hoping there would be a satisfying one for the night. Though, of course, there was still work to be done, but it wasn’t the time for that. So what went wrong this time?

The problem was, she had to be awake right now. In the middle of the night, on her bed, under the sheets, and clutching a pillow tightly—everything set up perfectly. What had disturbed her rest, then? Maybe it was a nightmare. She couldn’t exactly remember what her dream was about, so that was a possibility. Or maybe a cold breeze had come in. If that was the case, then she should probably get the window fixed. And now that she thought about it, it was quite cold, so she clutched her pillow tighter.

The pillow was certainly soft and warm, but something else felt... off about it. Whatever, just check it out in the morning and try to get some rest now. Except a second later, a soft humming sound came from just ahead. From a person. _That_ definitely wasn’t supposed to be there. Or the cold, hard floor she had only now realized she was on. Or the lack of blankets and a pillow to rest her head. But being so tired now, there wasn’t a whole lot of thought put into it and she tried getting to sleep once more.

For a second, the pillow seemed to squirm slightly. That’s fine, it gives her some heat, but why exactly did it move? Something was definitely wrong, and it would probably be best to open her eyes for now to see what was happening. The pillow twitched again, keeping her eyes shut for just a little longer as she tried to embrace the warmth, but the motion quickly subsided. Without anything preventing her now, she opened her eyes to take a look ahead.

Her pillow that she’d been holding actually wasn’t a pillow at all. Instead, an ovate figure with two points coming out from its top was in its place, moving slightly from their soft breathing. They were facing away from her towards a patch of moonlight that couldn’t be seen all that easily from behind them. Below the two was a smooth rock floor with not a single crack in sight, though there wasn’t much to see without getting up. There wasn’t any light besides the spot in front of the two of them, so it was dark all around. Looked like she wasn’t getting sleep any time soon.

From out of view, the figure opened his yellow eyes slowly and looked ahead. He quickly noticed the two warm hands placed over him and held them tightly with his own. It didn’t even matter to him that he had no idea who that was, or that he was fairly cold—he just wanted to get back to sleep.

From behind, she did her best to get up without disturbing the other. At least let them have some rest if she can’t. Gently lifting her hands up and off their body, she accidentally dropped one of their hands she hadn’t even known was on her. The other body made a slight confused hum and lifted their head up slightly, so she quickly set her hands back on.

The figure lifted their head off the ground, then turned around to face her. Though not much could be seen about them, their glowing yellow eyes were enough to indicate to her who it was. They locked eye contact for a while, not even caring about the soft patting of grass nearby.

“S... Susie?” the boy rasped. “Is that you?”

She responded in a whisper. “Yes. And you are... I’m sorry, could you remind me of your name?”

“It’s Mags.” He tried taking a look behind him, but gave up halfway through the motion. “Where are we?"

“I am unsure. Let me take an analysis of the area and I will report to you my findings.”

Susie started to get up, patting the boy’s head and signifying for him to stay put. Mags reached out anyways, but she set his hand down back over himself.

“Stay here,” she whispered. “You needn’t come along.”

Despite it being more uncomfortable staying on the ground than not, he made no objections and watched her walk off. He’d probably be staying there for a while because he didn’t feel like disobeying such a small order, even though she probably wouldn’t care anyways.

Upon reaching for one of her several devices to inspect the area, she quickly noticed that it wasn’t there. No worries, it probably just fell out while she was asleep.

She walked up to Mags. “Excuse me, could you get up for a moment?”

With an uncertain nod and some effort, he managed to pick himself back up. In his place was an empty spot of rock, exactly identical to the rest of the floor nearby. Mags looked down at it confusedly.

“Oh, well it looks like I won’t be using that any time soon.” Susie looked up at him. “Would you like to come along to look around?”

“Uh...” He considered the options. On one hand, he’d need to actually do something, even if it was simple. On the other hand, he could just sit down and let her do all the work, which wasn’t much. Sitting or laying down on the floor was so uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to accidentally mess something up in the searching process, though there wasn’t a whole lot that could be screwed up in the first place. “I think I’ll just wait here.”

The surrounding area looked to be a large and mostly circular cavern. Though it was hard to tell, there was a ring of grass surrounding the edge of the entire area. Not much could be made out through the hole in the roof besides stars and the moon, shining down onto the middle of the area. All that was left to do now was to search around the walls, hoping there would be something of interest along there.

A short scream suddenly emerged from behind, which quickly got muffled by some unknown force. She immediately spun around and reached for her blaster, only to stop midway after seeing nobody there. That voice was definitely Mags’, but how did he just disappear so fast? A sudden wave of fear arrived as she hurried over to where he just was. This could not be happening. All she had to do was take him along, but of course she had to leave him unattended in the dark.

As she approached, a muffled voice came from not too far off, along with a soft tapping on the ground. A quick glance in its direction showed Mags, luckily, but with some sort of spherical parasite attached to his head. It was almost the size of him, and looked to be shaded blue, though it wasn’t easy to tell given the darkness. He was frantically trying to pull it off his face, but it was latched on tight.

Without the proper equipment, it wouldn’t be easy to get it off, much less know how to even do so in the first place. There were at least a few strategies that could be tried, but there was no guarantee they would work. Her first idea was to try and relax it so it could be removed more easily, though that was easier said than done. Perhaps she could just give it a massage? Time was running out and Mags was suffocating, so she gave it a try.

She placed her hands on it without any hesitation and began rubbing her hands around, expecting a coarse or sticky texture to the creature, but it turned out to be quite soft. So soft, in fact, that she actually wanted to continue the process. Despite her mind telling her that it could be dangerous, she just wanted to snuggle up with it so badly after this was done.

Luckily, the creature seemed to enjoy the motion and let its body sag. Now looked to be the perfect time to pluck it off, but it would be safer to relax it just a bit longer so it wouldn’t try and retaliate. Mags wasn’t trying to force it off by now, likely because of a possibility she didn’t want to think about. Just a little while longer, then he would be fine.

At last, the time seemed to have come, so she lifted her hands and grabbed onto the entity, which also happened to be quite squishy. It made no move to object as it was lifted off Mags and taken a good distance away, then placed on the ground. Upon setting it down, Susie quickly returned to Mags to see if he was fine.

A hand was gently placed over the boy—now gasping for breath. His eyes were half-closed and were staring directly forwards at the cave’s roof, then he turned to face her after a moment. Not a word was spoken between them as they looked at each other with far different expressions in their eyes.

“Am I... am I okay?” Mags squeaked after a while. It didn’t look as though he could think properly at the moment.

“Yes, you’re...” A tear formed in her eye, but she didn’t even care. Making sure to be gentle, she lifted him up and into herself for a soft hug. “You’re fine.”

Mags let his hands hang loose as he hadn’t the necessary strength yet to get moving properly. A small sparkle in the wall caught his attention, but he couldn’t do anything with it even if he wanted to for now.

Something stepped along the grass from the side, and Susie immediately spun around to get a look at it. In the darkness, the shape of the creature from earlier could just barely be made out, slowly approaching them and bouncing its body slightly with every movement. Without letting go of Mags, she quickly got up and put herself between them. The egg boy watched lazily as she put on a determined expression on her face and began breathing a bit more heavily.

She fumbled around blindly for her blaster just as the figure came into a slightly more lit area, revealing a long tongue on its front. So long, in fact, that it was left dangling out of its mouth and bouncing around with the motion. With a bit more pressure, she backed up—basically carrying Mags by now—into the light to buy some more time.

“Stay back!” she warned, somewhat uneasily. “I...” Still searching for her weapon, she left her precaution unfinished.

The figure continued approaching, drool now visible coming from its mouth. Crouching down, it leaped forwards into the patch of light, where one of them was more or less ready to defend themself.

The creature was far different from what they expected it to be. Its face was composed of two lazy eyes and a long, gaping mouth with an even longer tongue sticking out of it. It bounced in place slightly and gave the two a grin.

Susie simply stared it down, trying to recall if she’d seen this before. It looked familiar, but she just couldn’t pinpoint the memory she was looking for.

With all the silence and lack of movement, Mags looked up at her confusedly. “Wha... What’s that?”

She gave no response as she watched it spin around a few times, then stick its tongue up in the air. It seemed... relatively harmless, but she still took caution. After it’s whole performance was complete, it hopped up to the two and stared with its googly eyes. Mags flinched a little at the approach.

“Hello, there.” Susie nudged Mags behind herself as much as possible and gently patted the creature’s head. Sure enough, it simply hopped excitedly at the affection, begging for more. After petting it a few times more, she made a motion with her free hand and turned around to face the other.

“It’s friendly,” she assured him. “Would you like to meet it?”

He hesitated his answer and peeked out at the blue blob, who was staring off for seemingly no reason at one of the cave’s walls. “Uh, okay.”

Susie moved herself to his side, letting the creature walk up to him. Mags instinctively clutched her hand tightly with both of his own, but forced himself to stay put otherwise. He set his gaze to the floor and let the other stare him down for a good while.

“Have we seen this thing before?” he muttered to Susie without looking up.

“I... cannot recall. I feel as though I have, but I’m unsure.”

Mags remained silent for a moment. “Do you remember it’s name?”

“No. Though perhaps you could give it a nickname, if you’d like.”

“But I don’t even know what to call it.” He took a slight look up at it. “It looks like it’s made out of goo, or something, so maybe we could name it after that.”

“Ooh, I’d be more than willing to give it a name!”

The last voice came from seemingly nowhere and sounded a little playful. Mags was quickly pulled close as Susie looked up to find the source of it, though there was nothing there. Just a moment later, a warping sound appeared from behind and they turned around to see a figure hidden from view by the darkness. To its sides were several colorful hexagons that glowed softly against the black background. A bit farther off were two grey, glowing ovals that stared at the group.

“Hey guys!” it called to them. “How ya’ doing?”

A soft sigh was heard from its side, followed by silence.

“No response? You ain’t the talkative type of group, are ya’? That’s fine, I guess.”

Susie drew her blaster and pointed it blindly at the voice’s general direction. “Show yourself! There’s no reason to hide.” To her side, Mags held onto her tightly.

“Daawww, should I spoil the fun for you?” A short pause. “Eh, why not? Get ready to make way for...” Nothing. “For!” Something like glass sounded out from the blackness. “The great, the one, the only...” Another pause. “Pssst!”

More glass sounds, then a strong gust of wind forced the two observers to shield their eyes. Upon recovering their view again, they were able to see a grey puffball with a purple and orange jester’s hat, a purple bowtie, and near pitch black clown shoes. On his side were two oddly shaped pointed wings filled with rainbow colored hexagons.

“Shadow Marx!”

Everyone stayed silent once more. Shadow Marx was looking upwards with a maniac grin on his face, not noticing the confusion on his audience. After a short while, he looked down at them, then back into the darkness.

“Servant! Out here, now!”

Another sigh, then the grey eyes approached the moonlight. Out from the blindness popped a floating, grey egg shape that looked remarkably similar to Mags—floating hands and pointed ears. The new figure was probably wondering what he was currently doing here, judging by his facial expression.

“Lookit that! Betcha'll didn’t uh... er...” He turned to his so-called servant. “Hey, help me out here!”

He simply looked at Shadow and gave another sigh, then turned to the side.

“You’re completely useless, you know that?”

“Oh, sure.” He didn’t turn around. “It’s not like I set up your grand entry here, or prepared your breakfast, or—”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up.” Shadow turned to the group. “Any of y’all wanna take a guess why you’re here? Any takers?”

The blob finally looked up at them, but only for a brief moment before staring off at the wall once more. While Mags was practically scared to death at the moment, Susie held up her blaster towards Shadow determinedly.

“You have exactly ten seconds to begin explaining yourselves and your intention or I set this weapon to mark seven and blast your entire wing off. Timed now.”

Shadow Marx showed a mock shocked expression. “Oh? What’s this? The girl, out of all of you, is the one to try and stand up to me?” He gave another laugh.

She paused for a moment. “I know well enough how to stand my own, mind you. Now answers, please.”

It took him a good while to finally calm himself down. “You remind me of a certain someone else here. She tried the same thing! You’re lucky I’m not sentencing you to life in the dungeon right now, because I could more than easily do that. Oh, and by the way, I stole all your stuff, so good luck getting anywhere with your plan.”

“Well it seems that you have forgotten the meaning of ‘everything’, as I appear to still be in possession of—”

Mags swallowed and shyly pointed at her blaster, from her perspective looking to be him merely attempting to gain her attention. He whined quietly, enough to be only barely heard by her.

She looked down at him for a second, then back at her weapon, which now appeared to be a fake replica made out of wood. After a soft gasp, she slowly tucked it away.

“Told ya’ so.” Shadow looked towards the blue creature, who was now bouncing around near the edge of the light. “Oh, that’s right! I was gonna name this little guy here. You may know him as ‘Gooey’, but that name sucks. How ‘bout something like ‘Blue Guy’? That’s simple enough, but I’m just leaving a suggestion. No need to thank me. Anyways, that’s the end of the show, thank you all for coming. I got places to be, so see ya’ next time!”

With another laugh, he condensed himself into a swirl and teleported away. His attendant gave off a shrug and shook his head, then snapped his fingers and followed in suit.

Everyone remained silent as Gooey approached the other two.

“What’re we gonna do?” Mags asked in a quaver.

There was no response as Susie looked up towards the starry sky. If she felt disappointed, annoyed, or hopeless, she didn’t show it.

“We’re going to make it out of here,” she assured, pulling him in for another hug. “I promise.”


	2. Dark and Dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of exploration in the caverns. And then some real unfortunate news.

Each part of the wall was jagged with small points, and combined with the lack of light it made it difficult to search around for anything. The two realized this soon after beginning their inspection of the surrounding area, though there wasn’t much else they could do.

Mags struggled within his memories to find what he was looking for. At the same time, he was following Susie and holding her hand, mostly due to the fact that neither still had any idea where they were or what could be lurking about. It was extremely fortunate for them that the first thing they managed to find was harmless and probably going to join them on their journey back home. And speaking of, the blob was probably out trying to see which rock surface tasted the best, judging by earlier.

At last, the thought finally came to him, but almost immediately he lost it again. With an internal sigh, he at least decided to determine which spell he should actually use first—that is, if he was doing so in the first place. Maybe Susie would know, but he didn’t want to distract her.

Looking up, she was still searching for anything that could be used to help them out of there. Every once in a while, she lifted a hand to pat the wall a few times in case there was something she had missed.

Just past a good-sized rock in the ground, she stopped and set her head down, then swept her hair back and resumed. He looked up just as a small breeze hit his face from the motion to see her long, pink hair flowing slightly behind her. Instantly, he lost all trail of thought and began eyeing it closely. For whatever reason, he couldn’t make himself look away. Every time she reached out towards the wall, it swayed slightly, pulling some feeling he couldn’t describe out from him. And it looked so smooth, too. He almost just wanted to... reach his hand out and touch it.

It turned out that was exactly what he was doing at the moment, and upon snapping back to his senses he immediately retracted it. What was he doing? She most certainly wouldn’t like it, and he didn’t want to disturb his only caretaker in this place. But it didn’t look like she was focused on anything besides her current task, and without even realizing he reached back out slowly.

This time, he let his hand out all the way, being met with an extremely smooth surface that almost made him want to continue onward with his idea. At that moment, he lost all sense of reasoning and let his hand run gently up the pink stream running up to her head. It all felt so nice, and he couldn’t help but grasp a small portion of it.

She quickly spun around to face him with a short breath, visible panic on her face. After a short look around, revealing nothing but an ashamed Mags standing just before her, relief returned to her. She looked back down to the other, now staring intently at a particular spot on the floor, but said nothing.

Mags gulped and remained silent as well. From somewhere nearby, a single drop of water sounded against the ground, though it was hidden by their slightly intensified breathing. He prepared himself to say something in apology, but only managed a slight squeak.

Luckily for him, something clicked nearby, taking the attention of both. At the opposite end of the area from them was Gooey, tongue high in the air, having appeared to just have activated a switch of some sort, judging by the continuous rumbling from another point. The sound seemed to shake a small portion of the wall, which soon withdrew into the ground and revealed a lit hall.

“It appears that we have discovered our next plan of action.” Susie started towards it, then paused after a short distance. “Come.”

Still embarrassed from earlier, he said nothing and took her hand to enter the next unknown. Gooey was already there, waiting for them, but he quickly lost patience and went in without them.

* * *

Several torches brightened the rather bland corridor. The walls and floor were nothing more than smooth rock of various shades of grey, barely sticking out or missing at times. A few bricks lined the edges connecting the wall to either other surface, but other than that, the hall was bare.

Mags kept his eyes locked at the floor, too sheepish to look anywhere else at all. Susie didn’t seem to notice, which he was thankful for, but he also felt that he should apologize for what he did. Maybe... she’d just forget about it.

At the end of the passage, Gooey was hopping in place, begging for the other two to hurry up already. Impatient as he was, he didn’t wait for them to start exploring around the corner, setting his tongue over every single surface he could possibly find. On a few of them, he made a grin or a frown, though he quickly moved on after each taste.

The back wall they had seen Gooey in front of was revealed to be a single pillar as they reached the new room. Just behind were a few more, each with a lantern hanging off one side. The side walls caught their attention the quickest—several jail cells, all empty from what they could tell. A bit of light from the lamps spilled into them, but not enough to clearly see what was in each. Mags squeezed the other’s hand a bit more tightly at the sight.

“We’ll get out of here soon,” she assured him, “don’t worry.”

Mags stared into the cells as they passed by. Most, if not all contained nothing but a rusted bed frame with a tattered mattress on top. The back of each was covered with darkness, making it impossible to see anything within it. He did his best to distract himself from them along the way, but curiosity got the better of him and he couldn’t help but glance over at each of them as they went by.

Something clanged from far off, and he instinctively clutched her hand tightly. Susie looked down at him for a second, then back up towards their destination at the end of the room. An enormous door was placed at the back wall just up a few steps, seemingly unsecured judging by the broken lock laying on the ground next to it. Except for a small dark spot stretched out across the width of the room, the path leading up to it was straightforward.

As they approached the strip of darkness, she pulled him close and did her best to obstruct his vision. He was obviously scared at the possibility of something lurking about, so the least she could do was hide that fear from him. Glancing downward, he looked to be shutting his eyes tightly, though it wasn’t easy to tell with him against her body. Both his hands were now wrapped around her, squeezing tightly, though she didn’t mind.

A hand rubbed gently over his back as a cold breeze blew against them. He could feel a tear coming out of his eye, and he really wanted to just—

“We’re through.”

He peeked out from behind her. Sure enough, the darkness was now behind them, and the door lay just ahead.

“Oh.”

After some hesitation, he let himself out from his position and grabbed her hand instead. Susie gave him a gentle pat on the head, then started forwards slowly until he caught up. A short bounding from behind signified Gooey making his way towards them, finally.

The door was massive, too tall for Mags to reasonably guess how big it was, though it was taller than the rest of the room, and the ceiling was hollowed out to accommodate. Susie went up to it and gently placed her hand on one of the sides, which creaked slightly. She paused for a moment, then pushed it gently. The door creaked again, this time just barely enough to show a crack into the next room. She remained for a moment more, then stepped back and turned towards him.

“Stay close.”

He nodded his head and watched as she pushed the door open so they could enter. Before being able to do anything else, Gooey leaped forwards and burst into the room without them, not caring about what could be laying inside. Susie turned back and motioned for him to follow, then took his hand and led the way inside.

The room was almost identical to the one they originally found themselves in, save for the lack of a hole in the roof. A few torches scattered around on the walls lit up the room instead, just barely enough to reveal another smaller door at the opposite end of the room. The center held a small, flat stone and was free of grass. Besides the three in there already, the room was completely deserted.

Mags followed the other slowly towards the other end of the room. Nearby, Gooey was hopping around on the grass, probably looking for something new to taste.

“W-wait! Hold up a second.”

Susie looked around for where the voice came from while Mags shivered against her hand. She intuitively reached for her blaster, then remembered the situation from earlier and instead placed a hand over her escortee.

Moments later, the familiar jester warped in above the platform, shortly followed by his assistant.

“Hold on. You guys ain’t s’posed to be out and about here. Nuh uh. You were just supposed to be trapped in that room forever, and you’d eventually go crazy or something, and then—”

“Might I remind you that I suggested on numerous occasions that you remove the hidden switch for your underlings?”

“I was gonna get to that!”

“You were going to do it yesterday.”

“Well—uh...” Shadow turned back to the other two. “Anyways! Since you managed to make your way over here, it looks like I have to take action.” He took a quick glance towards the egg boy. “Nice to see you’ve got your kiddo here for this, too. That’ll make it all the more fun in the end.”

“I’m...” Susie took a look towards the other. “I’m in no way related to his... maternal figure. Please take that into account.”

Mags looked eager to say something and tugged her hand gently.

“Please, not now,” she whispered.

With a short look of disappointment, he turned to the ground just beneath her.

Shadow flapped his wings slightly. “Anyways, lemme just tell ya’ that I’m...”

Something resonated inside her, and she started feeling a little light-headed all of a sudden. It felt... awfully familiar. The gentle heat over her own hand began to feel colder by the second, and with her other, she clutched her head, and soon zoned out of Shadow’s monologue.

* * *

_At last, she set down her project and took a look at the results. Tomorrow, she could move onto the testing phase, but at least the first draft was done. After setting down her visor, she picked up her tools and walked away from the table to put them away. No matter how tired she may be, it would be worth the effort to store them now, rather than later._

_As she passed by the drawers for the last time, she was just about ready to collapse onto the floor and fall asleep there. With a sigh, she went up to the window and leaned against the wall for a moment. Of course, she should really get to bed right now, but she just couldn’t make herself go to her room for the time being._

_Outside, crickets made their call to keep the moon out. The moonlight dimly illuminated a patch on top of a hill far, far away, which looked to be a perfect spot for a residence, yet it was empty. Shadows of the trees displayed a two-dimensional background of a forest to the side, where an owl or two could be heard hooting from far off. And just in front of her house was absolutely nothing, except for one big egg._

_Wait, what? She shook her head slightly and looked back outside. That had to be an illusion. No matter how strange the nearby residents may be, leaving a giant egg out during the night was definitely off their agenda. Rubbing her eyes, she took another look out the window, expecting for it to disappear._

_Oddly enough, it still remained there. Maybe she should just go to bed and forget about it. Which is what she probably would have done, if it wasn’t for the fact that the egg had two points coming off of it, and almost looked to be shaking slightly. It suddenly twitched its shape—obviously revealing it not as what it looked to be—then turned over on its side._

_She stared at it for a good while longer, then rubbed her eyes once more. Yet again, it still remained, shivering in the freezing cold of the night. That was... she really needed to do something. That was definitely a kid out there, and they wouldn’t last outside all alone._

_With the last of her strength, she trudged out her personal lab and towards the front door. It was getting difficult to keep her eyes open, but there was no way she was leaving a freezing child outside that was within her grasp. Even if they were a naughty one, she could settle that later. Or maybe, even, if they were orphaned..._

_The path leading up to them was nothing more than an array of flowers and blades of grass arranged in no particular pattern. It almost looked like they were getting farther and farther away with each movement she made, and for a moment she considered giving up and heading back home. On top of the hill, she could barely make out a shade of blue on their clothes, but it was so difficult to keep going._

_At last, she reached her target and picked up the kid in her hands. She almost dropped them in her exhausted state, but upon realizing what she was doing, she regained a bit of strength and hefted them up. It was... she couldn’t go on any longer. She wobbled slightly, but managed to keep upright as she approached the door and entered her house. Down the hall, into her bedroom, and she gently set them down on the bed, then collapsed down next to them. Tomorrow... just, tomorrow..._

* * *

_A big lump of warmth was within her grasp—just right for comfort. Even though she wasn’t up yet, she could tell that she was feeling much better than last night. And speaking of, it was probably a bad idea to have been working so late, but that couldn’t be undone now._

_It was so nice just laying there, using whatever it was in her hands to keep the feeling of being asleep, but conscious. She did need to get to work for the day, but that could wait for the time being, right?_

_Something breathed gently in front of her, giving a reminder of what had happened the previous night. She really didn’t want to let go, but for the sake of them possibly waking up to a complete stranger using them as a pillow, she reluctantly released her hold._

_After opening her eyes, she did her best to gently move away without waking them. Unfortunately, she accidentally knocked him to the side, slowly getting their own eyes open. She decided to remain on the bed as they blinked lazily a few times, then went back to sleep. As she prepared to get up, however, they opened their eyes completely, looking up at the ceiling first, then towards her. They gasped, then backed up as far as they could until hitting the wall, breathing heavily the entire time._

_“I mean you no harm,” she assured them, though they didn’t look convinced._

_She lifted her hands up, revealing nothing, which looked to relieve their stress at least a little. The child started glancing around the room, sometimes over to her, most likely holding several questions at the moment._

_“We are in my residence, if you are wondering.”_

_They started to calm down, taking deep breaths and clutching their chest. “Who are you?” they murmured._

_“I beg your pardon?”_

_The child gulped. “Who are you?”_

_“My name is Susie, secretary of the Haltmann Works Corporation. May I ask you the same?”_

_They paused, not quite processing the question they had been asked. “O-oh, my name’s Magolor, but people just called me Mags.” He mumbled something afterward._

_Susie considered a few questions she could ask him. “I found you out in the cold last night and brought you in.”_

_“Outside?”_

_She nodded._

_“What was I doing outside? I wasn’t supposed to...”_

_She waited, just in case he was going to finish, but he never did. An awkward silence between them as at least one of them pondered on what to say._

_A short buzz gently sounded from her body. She pulled out a small remote-looking object, looked at it for a moment, then put it back._

_“Excuse me for one moment. Someone is at the door.” She got up and started towards the hallway. “Could you wait here for me?”_

_The boy nodded. At the very least, she could test how trustworthy the child was when left alone for a short while, no matter how much she wanted to stay and answer his concerns. It would only take a few minutes, at most, anyway._

* * *

“Look out!”

Something yanked at her hand, sending her topping over to the side. As she fell over next to Mags, something like electricity crackled from just behind, striking the spot she had just been standing in. The two got up and looked towards Shadow, who had a maniac expression in his face once more.

“Come on! That was a perfect shot! Hey, egg boy, lemme get this one.”

His assistant shook his head at them once more, then pointed towards the way they came in. Shadow laughed, then shot out another ball of sparks from in front of his face, easily being dodged by the two of them. Susie took a step back and quickly took the other’s hand, then darted back towards the large door.

“Hey, get back here! I’m not done!”

A few more orbs were sent their way, all missing by a wide margin, even without their maneuvers. Mags started to slow down almost immediately, barely being able to keep up. He began panting heavily from the immense effort they had put in from having just been idle, slowly losing his grip on her hand.

He suddenly made an incoherent noise, calling out to her, though she only tightened her hold and kept going.

“Behind... you,” he wheezed.

She took a look at what was so important, immediately to be met with an enormous sphere headed straight for the two of them, much too large and close to be dodged. With only a matter of moments before it hit, she stopped, held her hands out to stop him as well, then shoved him away as hard as she could. It pained her to do it, but the force was nothing compared to what would have happened if she hadn’t.

Luckily, he barely managed to dodge it, and remained conscious to hear the cry come out from behind. Before being able to look behind himself at the result, something plopped down hard against the ground, paired with a strong grunt. Picking himself up, he immediately knew what had happened and rushed up to her.

“Ha! There we go. _That’s_ what shouda happened.”

Just as she was about to get back up, a portal appeared near the center of the room, extending out an enormous claw that grabbed her entire body with no retaliation. Her body hung loose as the claw reached back, then flung her forwards as hard as it could, slamming her against a smooth part of the wall, luckily. The claw retracted back into the portal as it sealed up, leaving a gloating Shadow and a bored assistant in the space above it.

“Woo! You see that? Perfect combo!” Shadow was left laughing as his assistant gave off a sigh and held a hand to his head. “Hey, bring out the Heftys, will ya’? I got places to be, so catch you guys next time! In jail, I assume.”

He laughed once more, then teleported away. His assistant remained, once again considering all the things he could possibly be doing instead of what he currently was at the moment.

“I’m only doing this because he’s telling me to.” He snapped his fingers, emitting a small dust from the tip of his hand. He prepared to teleport away, then stopped suddenly. “Might be best for you guys to get going.”

Mags watched as his double disappeared. After a moment, he remembered what he was doing and ran up to the heavily injured Susie, who was struggling to remain off the ground.

“Come on, we need to go!”

Mags took one of her hands and tried helping her up, but she didn’t have the strength to get back up. She fell back to the ground with a pant, then tried getting back up with his assistance again. This time, she couldn’t even make it off the floor before collapsing over herself. With some effort, she lifted her head up enough to look over to him.

From somewhere not far off, a large amount of footsteps sounded. Mags panicked and began frantically looking around for something he could do. Gooey was nearby, but he likely wouldn’t be of much help. The three were the only thing left in the room, so he looked back over to her, then moved over to her side. With all the strength he could muster up, he attempted to lift her up and onto herself, but dropped her a short distance off the ground. She gave off a small grunt upon hitting the floor.

“Gooey! Please help me here!”

He waved over at the blob, who managed to at least look over to him, but not much else before returning back to dancing around the room. The footsteps began increasing in volume, now revealing that they were coming from the large door from earlier. After a moment of staring at her body lying on the floor, he tried to lift her up again, this time a bit higher than his previous attempt, but still not enough to carry her. Upon dropping her, he once again considered what he should do at the moment.

Susie muttered something, too quietly for him to hear, so he went up to her front.

“Please... go on without me,” she croaked.

Tears started forming in his eyes as he realized what she had said. “But I can’t leave you here! I can’t let those guys take you!”

She tried to get up once more, but like all other attempts, it was futile. “At least... protect yourself.”

“But—!”

With the last of her strength, she lifted up her hands and surrounded him in a hug, which he embraced in sniffles and sobs.

After a while of holding each other, the door burst open, and a set of greenish creatures, each with two beady eyes, stubby arms, and waddly feet, came inside. The group was composed of only about five or so members, from what he could see through the tears, though they were still to be taken seriously nevertheless.

Before long, he was pushed back slightly, signaling for him to get moving. His eyes were too wet to be able to see anything clearly if it wasn’t directly in front of him.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Now... go.”

If the troopers hadn’t been so close, he would’ve stayed for longer. He bounced back just as they reached her barely conscious body, waving to him softly, then collapsing for good just as they picked her up. One stared at him for a moment, then pulled out a spear and jabbed it towards him, just shy of poking him in the face. With a combination of distress, worry, and mostly fear, he ran as fast as he ever could away, merely giving Gooey a tap on his way past to the backdoor. He hoped it would be enough to get him following, as if it wasn’t, then he was sure to meet the same fate as Susie, sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Easter today.
> 
> Or double Magolor day. 'Cause he's an egg, and it's Easter. And it's Sunday.


	3. Dejected Travels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mags wanders around, reflecting on his hopeless situation.

Mags slammed into the door at top speed, accomplishing nothing but a ringing in his head as he fell over. Hurriedly, he got back up and tried the doorknob, which luckily happened to be unlocked. Without even bothering to look back, he continued his escape through the doorway, forgetting to close the door on his way in, though it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference, anyway.

A three-way junction lay just ahead, though not much could be seen of either path from where he stood. Both corners ahead were indented, each surrounded by a single pillar in place, short branches laying in between. In his panicky state Mags dashed ahead and hid behind one of them.

Fast footsteps reappeared, smacking the door against the wall and bursting inside. They quickly approached, slowly getting louder and louder until it was impossible to hear his own unintentionally heavy breathing. As he steadily calmed himself down, the footsteps stopped for a moment, then slowly walked towards him. Quietly, he huddled down behind the pillar to hide as best he could from all directions.

The steps paused from just outside his hiding spot. Mags heavily considered making a break for it down one of the paths, though in so much fear, he couldn’t make his body move at all besides a continuous shaking. If they came just a few steps forwards, he would most certainly be spotted, and likely taken without reprisal on his end.

After what seemed like an eternity, the figure slowly walked off, leaving the sound of a weapon of some sort being tucked away. Mags gave a sigh of relief and prepared to get going again.

Before even being able to get up, his pursuer appeared just around the corner, thrusting a long spear towards him. All he could do was bounce back slightly against the pillar as he immediately became cornered.

To his complete surprise, a long tongue extended out towards the spear, wrapping around the entire pole with all its extreme length. Within a moment, it was snatched back and brought into a wide, gaping mouth, then swallowed whole. The blob was nowhere near large enough to contain the entire weapon, though if it worked, it worked. The waddler followed shortly after, not even getting the chance to try and escape. All that remained afterwards was a contented Gooey waiting just behind.

Mags continued staring forwards at the spot they had just stood. He knew well who it was that saved him, and that there was likely no immediate danger unless he forced himself into it, though he still didn’t move. From behind, his savior bounced up and gently nudged him.

“Oh, th-thanks, Gooey.” The blob bounced happily and waved his tongue in the air. “What are we supposed to do now?”

Mags sat back down and considered what could’ve been done in the previous room. Now that he thought about it, there was probably something he could have done to have saved her. Dragging her out, for say. Or using a spell in his arsenal, though the results could be uncertain. Or if Gooey would have just gone out and helped him...

He let a tear loose once more as he reminded himself that for the time being, he would be on his own. Well, not technically, but Gooey didn’t look to be all that reliable. Just one wrong move and he’d be sent to rot in jail for the rest of his stay in the cave system—if he was to make it out at all. And saving her now was just... he had no idea.

To his side, a soft headbutt tapped against one of his hands. Nothing came out besides more sobbing, so it returned, this time slightly harder. Still nothing. Gooey looked at him with a frown, then hopped up and waited beside him. After a moment of standing there, the blob repeatedly nudged his head against him.

Eventually, Mags turned to face his companion. Gooey didn’t stop until a hand was placed over his head, in which he then looked up as well. Now with the perfect opportunity, he bounced up and down a few times, sticking his tongue towards one of the halls.

“Yeah, I think that’s all we can do for now.” Mags got up and started towards the corridor, then turned to face the blob at the junction. “Come on.”

Mags waited for him awkwardly, though it didn’t look like he’d be moving soon. After a while, he held his hands together and stared at the floor, hoping they could get going soon.

* * *

The hall was extremely long—much, much longer than he could possibly see, though partly due to the fact that it curved inwards as it continued. Like the previous couple of areas, torches were the only thing lighting up the room. One was placed next to each door, in which there had to be at least a hundred. Strangely, the entirety of it was empty except for the two already there.

Mags wandered down without any particular goal. Maybe finding a way out, but that would probably be difficult without the help of Susie. She looked fairly experienced with journeying, or she was at least skillful in finding her way around. And she had mentioned that a few of her gadgets had gone missing, but not their purpose. Speaking of her, he really hoped she’d be able to find a way out of whatever situation she was in, and that she’d be able to make it back to him. But at the moment, that seemed about as likely as Gooey getting satisfied with one of the tastes of the walls and floors, which was just about impossible.

He didn’t know how long he’d been walking for, but the path just didn’t seem to end. Stopping suddenly, he took a look back to see Gooey licking one of the torches’ flames—for whatever reason completely unaffected—and the fork in the road not too far back. He looked awfully confused at it, but decided that he probably just lost track of the time, or was trudging slowly. That still didn’t seem right, though, but he didn’t think too hard on it.

Without any other ideas, he moved up to one of the doors and held a hand to the doorknob, but didn’t make a move to open it. The other side was completely silent, but Gooey bouncing around made it hard to tell. Hesitantly, he twisted the knob and peeked inside.

Several Hefty-looking creatures lay inside just in front of several beds, all turning to the opening in the door as they heard it. Mags immediately slammed it shut and ran back to hide behind the blob in case something came out.

To his relief, the door remained shut, but to be on the safe side he moved along with his hiding spot towards another door. Gooey looked up at it blankly, then gave it a lick from bottom to top. After a short judgement, he frowned, then bounced into it. Mags was nearly hit as the other bounced off of it, landing on his back with a soft plop. Enraged, he found the best thing to do at the moment was to have a staring contest with the door, and he left the egg be for a while.

Now knowing what might lay behind some doors, Mags proceeded down with caution, considering whether he really should go check any more. Perhaps he could return to the jail cells to see if Susie was there, but that was probably a bad idea, seeing as it would give Shadow a prime opportunity to kidnap him as well. After all, it didn’t look as though he’d be willing to spare either of the remaining “contestants” as he probably saw them.

Down a short ways, he stopped in front of a seemingly random entryway of all the others. Gooey hadn’t moved an inch from his original position, and it didn’t look like he’d be doing so anytime soon. There was no way he was going anywhere without him now, so Mags approached to get him following.

“Hey, Gooey?” No response.

He stood a short distance off, staring at him awkwardly. Gooey had his entire tongue within his mouth at the moment—which for him was a feat in itself—and intently focused on beating the unwinnable competition that had to have been going on for at least a few minutes.

“Gooey.” Mags walked up and patted his head, still without any luck. For a moment, he considered dragging him away, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Gooey, please.”

There had to be some way to convince him to get going, and it looked like he’d be easily persuaded, too. The problem was figuring out what was necessary to do so, and since he had just met the blob that day, there wasn’t a whole lot to base off of.

The first and most obvious choice was the promise of food, but of course, he didn’t have any food. And speaking of, he was starting to get hungry himself. Gooey had just eaten one of the guards roaming around, so that would likely be enough to coax him into moving, but wouldn’t work so much with his own hunger.

“I bet there’s more guards roaming around up ahead.”

He still didn’t budge. For a moment, it looked like he focused his view to the side, only to move it back.

Mags walked up and stood next to him, not quite knowing what to do. After a moment’s hesitation, he waved a hand in front of the goo, not quite sure if it would have any effect.

To his surprise, Gooey sagged and turned to face him. His frown tacitly explained that the competition’s victor was none other than the door laying in front of them.

“Can we please get going now?”

He nodded, then immediately changed his facial expression back to normal and bounced forwards. Mags sprinted to catch up.

Gooey stopped in front of another door and eyed it strangely. Mags sighed and prepared for another long wait as the blob leaped towards it.

The door wobbled on its hinges as it slammed open, sending the attacking force tumbling a short distance forwards onto the ground. A gente crash sounded out shortly after. The one onlooker approached and peeked inside to observe the results.

Inside was a room no larger than the guarded one from earlier, except without all the beds and general threat. Instead, boxes of a little more than Gooey’s height were stacked up across the entire containment, each with a visible flap on top sealing their contents. The corner of the area was blocked off by a large wall of them.

Gooey slowly got up and looked at the collision site with a frown. He hadn’t managed to knock anything over, luckily, but the mass he managed to bump into was displaced heavily, and it looked like it could at any moment. A short inspection of the cube later, he moved over to the blocked area and started bouncing from box to box to make his way in.

There was no way Gooey was getting out of there after he made it in, so Mags started his climb following. Hopefully there’d be something either of them could actually use inside.

It turned out to be much easier than he expected, and with one last heave, he dropped to the ground inside, which happened to be completely bare.

Upon getting up, he spotted a short set of steps leading up and out of the area, which he was thankful for. Gooey was already doing his routine taste test of all the surrounding objects, so the egg plopped himself down in the corner and watched.

Outside were several rounds of guards sure to pass by at any moment. And he was sure all shared a common goal: subdue him at any cost. At least Gooey was on his side, and was capable of protecting the two of them, but if only... if only she could be there, too. She’d know how to get them out of this big mess, and how to deal with Shadow. She’d be the one keeping him safe, despite having only just met him. And she’d know how to get back home.

A tear escaped the confines of his eyes all of a sudden. It ran down his face and dampened his robe slightly, not enough to be noticable, but enough to call the others to follow. One by one, tear after tear, a wet spot emerged on his clothing, and his vision slowly got obstructed, leaving only a blurry mess in its place. All he could think about was his only hopes of leaving this rotten pit, and how it was now gone. Until at last, he disregarded it all and let his feelings loose, breaking into a mess of sobs.

When they met back up again, he’d really like to return the favor. Be it protecting her from something, or maybe just dropping in a good deed, if that was all he could do. Or, actually... if they met up again. If he just walked outside, he’d probably be her nextdoor roommate for the rest of his life, and certainly not in a good way. Was she even going to be fed? Or acknowledged at all? The horror of either possibility pushed him deeper into the meltdown he was already in.

Gooey walked up and stared at him confusedly. If he had merely continued with his procedure, Mags probably would have forgotten of his existence entirely. After a short moment, the blob moved over to his side and rested himself.

“Please d-don’t... please don’t leave me,” Mags trembled, clutching the other like a pillow.

In response, he bounced slightly and grinned, though through the barricade that was his wall of tears, it was impossible to notice.

* * *

_It seemed rather odd that someone was at her door so early in the morning, much less at all. Despite having shown no signs of returning back to her old life—heartlessly extracting all the resources from a planet and leaving its inhabitants to provide for themselves from what was left, with almost all of them roboticized at that—the locals were still awfully uncomfortable just remaining within her presence. If she was lucky, there wouldn’t be a passerby running off in fear upon spotting her from the background._

_The metal gate opened up conveniently just as she approached. At first glance, there was nobody in sight, which likely pointed towards someone reconsidering their visit to her just after coming. She prepared to return to her temporary guest, only to spot a long string extend out into the air just in front of her, giving a bit of a surprise. Looking down, she noticed a blue blob not much shorter than herself appear from the side—googly eyes, a long, gaping mouth, and an even longer tongue on its face._

_“Oh, hello.” The blob bounced happily. “What can I help you with?”_

_It spun around a few times, then stuck its tongue out into the air, dropping a good bit of slobber onto the ground in front of it. Thankfully, none managed to land inside the house. Dropping it slowly, it stared beyond her into the hallway, plotting something judging by the blank look on its face._

_Out of nowhere, it lifted its tongue onto her face and gave it a lick. She instinctively closed her eyes and cringed disgustedly at the motion. Upon finishing, she immediately wiped away some of the spit and looked back down at the creature. Despite being completely grossed out by the move, she simply couldn’t bring herself to be mad because of it._

_An empty spot was the only thing that remained in its place. She prepared to just shrug it off and return back inside, only to hear the sound of the creature bouncing around from behind. Quickly turning to face it, she noticed it slowly making its way down the hall, headed towards the guest room, from what it looked like._

_Not even fazed by the movement, she pulled out her remote and pressed a button on it. The hall returned a series of clicking sounds, at least keeping the boy and the blob away from each other. After all, he’d be just as scared as any other kid seeing an unfamiliar creature bounding towards them. And speaking of him, he’d probably be wondering what the noises were all about, so she’d best go check on him._

* * *

Something creaked softly from just behind, just barely enough to halt his sleep. Opening his eyes slightly, he was met with his blue pillow resting beside him, a short tower of crates, and the wall shortly forwards. He really wanted to get up and inspect what had happened, but he just couldn’t move from his spot.

After a short while, he finally managed to turn his head around enough to see the light spilling out into the room from the ajar doorway, illuminating nothing more than a few boxes scattered about. He closed his eyes again, hoping to get some sleep, but soon opened them again, interested in what else had happened since the door opened.

In between himself and the doorway was a shadowy figure, obscured by the darkness from the dimly lit room. With a short whine, he closed and reopened his eyes slowly. The figure slowly moved towards him without making a sound, but it was much too difficult for him to notice through the blindness.

One more long blink later and they were standing just before him. He could make out two floating hands and long hair flowing down their head, but not much else through his half-closed eyes. With a lazy turn of his head, he glanced upwards to be met with two bright blue eyes staring back down at him. Without giving it any thought, he slowly reached out, only for his hand to be set back down by them. He let out a soft moan and closed his eyes once more.

Gently, he was lifted off the ground and into their hands, in such a soft manner that he barely opened his eyes at the sudden movement. He prepared to wake up fully, but was interrupted by a gentle caress across his head. With a sigh of comfort, he bundled up and returned to his slumber as he was carried out into the hall.


	4. Degenerate Exhibition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A journey though the big poopy prison of poop.

A faint clang just barely sounded into his ear, and, despite sounding far off, as if sitting in a field and listening to a log drop from a while off, he could just sense that in reality, it was nearby. His other ear was against the ground, so the sound came muffled from one side. It seemed to have some sort of impact on his pillow, moving it just the slightest, and he hugged it tighter.

The sound returned, this time slightly louder. Now, he could make out an even weaker clinking following it, practically begging for him to get up already. Much to its disappointment, he ignored the call and turned over onto his back, leaving the pillow resting atop his chest. It was quite warm, actually, given the circumstances of what else he had already seen of the surrounding environment.

At last, he opened his eyelids a smidge. It was much too little, and he was far too tired for him to be able to see any more than an array of colors across the bottom of his vision. Without any further hesitation, he shut them back to their original position and took a deep breath. Gooey would make sure he’d be fine... probably.

The cushiony floor rumbled slightly, only pushing him further into a deep sleep. It was just so relaxing, and he really wished it would last forever so he could remain in an eternal slumber... that was, until someone eventually forced him awake. But for now, just leave everything behind, his fears, his problems, his whole life, and keep asleep.

The rumbling shortly stopped, much to his dismay. With little effort, he set his destination back to the dream realm and prepared the journey. The soft surface beneath him unexpectedly arrived to assist, which he didn’t put much thought into, and at last, he set out on his trip to finally leave for a few hours or so. If he could get a good rest, of course.

Soon enough, he already felt himself there. Loads of unintentionally odd sounds from all around—soft pats against a rock floor, a gentle slurping from nearby, and a quite familiar bounding sound. He wasn’t able to see anything, but the noises were enough to form an image within his mind.

As soon as it came, the image faded away into a blank nothingness, leaving only a boy and a cushion within his hands remaining. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t move himself from that very spot, floating above a singular shade of black that stretched in all directions. He tried to call out—to anyone at all in the area—but not even he could hear himself.

Though impossible to see or otherwise notice, something appeared above him, falling down at high speed. Somehow, he could just sense that something was there, fast approaching. All that could be done was look up and prepare for the sudden impact brought by whatever object actually existed in this void. And possibly hope that it would be something useful.

Something soft landed down on his stomach with a great deal of force, knocking the wind out of him and forcing his eyes open. Of course, it was Gooey, staring at him with a confused look and threatening to drop a single drop of saliva onto his robes.

“No!” He cringed in disgust as he stared at the spit. “Not on my robes! Get off!”

Mags struggled to move away, but Gooey was simply too heavy for him to do anything. All his efforts to push him off did nothing more than compress his body, much more than he would’ve ever thought was possible. The single droplet on the blob’s tongue tricked down and formed at the tip, taunting his attempts to prevent a rather disgusting outcome.

Gooey sucked up the spit just in time, but didn’t budge. Instead, he felt it would help to bounce around on top of the egg’s body, making him struggle to keep his breath, all the while dangling a drop of saliva on the middle of his tongue.

At last, upon deciding that enough was enough, Gooey bounced off onto the ground, spinning around a few times after landing. The boy beside him was struggling to remain conscious with deep breaths and a good amount of rest.

“Please... never do that... again,” he panted.

Gooey made his own version of a sigh and looked down towards the ground in disappointment. Within a moment, he was back to normal and walking off towards the edge of the room, which certainly wasn’t how he remembered it looking.

Instead of a solid stone wall where Gooey was standing, metal bars were in its place, revealing the rest of the room to be filled with cells of the same variety both of them were in. Mags was lying atop the sole piece of furniture in his own, which actually was much more comfortable than he expected it to be. Gooey looked to have absolutely no care about their current predicament, as he appeared to be trying to eat the entire cell door at the moment with little success.

It took a moment to completely realize the situation he was in. One of the biggest questions he held at the moment was how in the world he managed to find himself locked up, but the fact that he was in the first place concerned him more.

Barely clinging onto the last of his hopes, he slowly moved off the cushion and to the cell’s bars. His breathing quickly transformed into an irregular, disbelieving tone as he stared out into the empty space that made up the rest of the area. Only a single day there, and he’d already lost everything he had—his caretaker, his hopes of escaping wherever this was supposed to be, and his freedom. Now, all that remained was a harsh despair that lingered throughout the chilly dungeon, filling the few that entered with the reminder that escape was pointless. At the very least, Shadow spared them within the terrible confines, but he knew it would only be until they’d be eternally tortured for vile amusement. And there would be no hesitation doing so on a child, at that.

He hadn’t even noticed Gooey bounce up beside him, with all the thoughts racing through his mind. There had to be some sort of way to make it out, no matter how things may have seemed. The very best bet would be if Susie was out and about, and she’d no doubt be searching for him if that was the case. But again, _if_ that was the case.

A tear welled up in his eyes, but he barely managed to convince himself not to cry. He’d done far too much recently. There had to be some form of hope located somewhere within the cave system, or even this room, for that matter. If he cried... just once more...

His reassurances to himself were nowhere near enough to prevent the waterworks from starting up once more. Only slightly, as he still managed to block off some of the valves, but still enough to make his sobs audible. With the very last aspiration sucked out of him through the sheer despicable aura, he collapsed against the wall and surrendered to the force of bawling his eyes out.

Heard only by Gooey was a door opening slowly, then quickly shutting again. Following was a short breeze that would’ve been enough to chill the egg down to the bone, if it hadn’t been for his magically imbued clothing, and his noisy weeping.

Upon spotting the second egg in the same room as himself, he began hopping wildly, reaching out with his tongue, only to immediately retract it for whatever reason. Mags still hadn’t noticed with his eyes buried within his hands.

“Psst! Hey!”

The whisper wasn’t enough to be heard by his target, while the other plainly didn’t care. Moving a little closer in front of one of the pillars, he tried again.

“Hey, buddy.”

For a moment, it looked like he got the intended result, only for the sobbing to start up once more. He sighed, took a look to both sides, then moved right up to the bars. Gooey still attempted to see how far he could wrap his tongue around the bars before he ran out of tongue to use.

Rapping the bars lightly with his free hand, he made one final call, and if it didn’t work, he was out of there.

“Out here,” he whispered.

At last, the crying stopped, but the boy’s head didn’t move. With a sigh, he prepared to exit, only to witness exactly what he’d been asking for.

From within the bars’ hold came a short whimper, then a hasty scurrying as the boy finally noticed who was standing just outside. It was only a natural reaction, of course, given how he’d been seen not too long ago, but at the very least, he himself could attempt to remove any sort of previous frightening feeling still present. Hopefully, otherwise there would be another problem in getting a word processed in the child’s mind.

His grey doppelganger tucked the book he held to the side. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of time to spend here, so please hear me out.”

The blue boy looked up into his own murky eyes, still panting heavily from just moments ago, a great unease still obvious within his expression.

“I know I’m probably the last person you’d want to see right now, and I don’t blame you. After all, you did just see me assisting my master a few times, but could you please listen for just a moment?”

He stared at him for a moment, then turned to his blob friend, who still hadn’t moved. Upon turning back, he reluctantly nodded.

“Great.” He looked to both entrances to the room again. “I’ll try to make this quick, so here we go. You know my master. Shadow Marx. Yeah, so quite some time ago, we found each other far out in space, but all the details aren’t necessary. In short, we grew a sort of bond together and we headed out to find a suitable planet for our soon-to-be-plan. That planet just so happened to be where we are now, and I’m sure you can fill in a few details from there. Cut to a good while later—even I don’t know how long—when we’ve already set this whole place up, and my then-soon-to-be-lord revealed his own hidden plan to backstab me and make me his servant, and more importantly establish this whole underground facility. We’d been practicing our magic together, helping each other out on what we couldn’t do, but he’d been plotting to use that all against me the whole time. Of course, we were pretty much even in skill the whole time, but he solved that by practicing far, far ahead of me. Then, when the time came, he turned into that vile beast you know him as now, and I had no choice but to bow down to him.”

By now, he was panting quite a bit from his steady increase in speed during his explanation. His sole audience member looked at him with nothing more than confusion.

“Sorry about that whole rant, let me just get to the point. My master decided he needed entertainment, and luckily, it wouldn’t come in the form of slowly turning me insane. The bad part is that he decided to do it on any old stranger he came across, no matter how innocent they may be. That’s where you and your buddies came into play. And now finally what I’ve been trying to get to: I think you and your party may just be what we need to end this situation once and for all.”

A short pause followed as the younger egg tried to process what was being said. At least, it appeared that way, but it was really impossible to tell. That whole rant hopefully hadn’t demolished his last inner functioning of his mind, else he’d just wasted valuable time in getting a point across that wouldn’t even be noticed.

“Do you know where she is?” he sniffled.

The older one sighed. “Sorry kiddo, I haven’t got a clue. I’d really like to help in any way I can, but that’s one thing that’s out of my knowledge.”

A few sobs returned to the boy. There really wasn’t a whole lot that could be done besides hoping it wouldn’t get loud enough for Shadow to notice, otherwise some big trouble would be prepared for them both.

“I came to you to give the message, mainly, but I’ve got something else I think may help you.”

Within a few moments, the book was plopped down on the ground in front of him, bringing up a bit of dust on the floor in doing so.

“My old novice spellbook. I won’t be needing it anymore, so take it. Might be able to help later, too.”

The boy turned to the book, then back to him. “I can keep it?”

“Sure thing.”

A short moment of silence lasted between them. From somewhere off at the room’s far end, a cold rush arrived, though he had already become so resilient to the forces that it felt as if it was nothing more than stepping outside for the first time in a while on a breezy day. Oh, if only he could go back to that sort of life...

“Can you help me out of this cell, at least?”

“Can’t, sorry. Shadow’d be sure to find out immediately, and that’d mean punishment for both of us.”

“Servant!” came the familiar and already annoying voice from the large doorway. His assistant sighed and turned to face it for a moment.

“Just a second,” he called out, returning to the unimpressed voice the boy had come to know. “Look, I gotta go now, but know this: I’m rooting for you, kid. Never give up. Shadow and I hold the only means of getting out of this place, and there’s no way he’s letting me help you guys escape.”

He prepared to disappear with a snap of his fingers but stopped upon seeing the other egg get up and wave his arms towards him.

“Wait!”

“Make this quick. What is it?”

He held his hands together shyly and looked down a little. “Can I just ask why you look like me? I thought I was the only me around."

The assistant sighed once again. “Do you know where we are?”

A slow shake of his head told of the answer, a little disappointed, it looked like, at the lack of proper understanding.

“Servant! Get over here, now! Or else you’re getting table scraps for the next week!”

“I can’t go into detail, but this is a little place called the Mirror World. Well, not actually little—really, really big. I don’t expect you to understand what that means, but to keep it brief, I’ll just say this is a pretty close counterpart to the world you’ve come to know. That includes variants of people like Shadow and I.”

“That’s one week, going on one month!”

“Listen, I really need to go now, but just remember this: I believe in you, and I’ll help you through this predicament as far as my capabilities carry me.”

With a quick wink he snapped his fingers to address his lord’s needs. In front of the spot he just lay was a very mixed Mags, standing just above his newly acquired possession. On one hand, he just received confirmation that Shadow was probably one of the most powerful beings he would ever meet, and on the other, he’d been told he’s part of the ones who would finally shut him down. Adding to that, though somewhat unrelated, he now had some chance of making it out, but it could take a long, long time to find just the spell he needed, if it even existed in the volume he’d received. Okay... maybe just... lay down, and take a moment to consider what just happened.

* * *

_The blob bounced into the door immediately upon hearing the unfamiliar noise. Obviously, it had little effect, but that didn’t stop it from trying over and over again, hoping to see if it could just magically open up with one lucky attempt._

_Of course, it had to be leaping at exactly the door she needed to go into, and it didn’t look like it was ready to stop any time soon. Perhaps one of her tools could assist in this situation, but it would probably take much longer to find what was needed rather than just physically move it aside and hope for the best. She really didn’t want to hurt it, but if it was stubborn, there was nothing that could be done about that._

_Walking up until she was just beside the scene, she patted the creature’s head in an attempt to get its attention._

_“Excuse me.”_

_It stared at her strangely, but made no effort to move out of the way. After pondering for a moment on what to do, she tapped it on the back lightly, but to no effect._

_“Please, I must get by. My guest is expecting me.”_

_A short pause while it considered its options, then it made way for her entrance._

_“Thank you.”_

_She walked up to the doorway, only to stop upon feeling something brushing up against her back. Just behind her was the blob, attempting to tail her inside the room as she entered._

_She immediately stopped and pried it off, though there was only a moment while it remained free from her body. A few more attempts later, and she decided that something else had to be done._

_As soon as she started down the hall, it hopped off and waited next to the door. With a sigh, she moved back to resort to what she hoped she wouldn’t have to have done._

_The blob made no struggle as she picked it up and took it towards the front door, then outside and onto the grass. Instead, it decided to make a move only after she turned around to enter again, hopping on top of her head to hitch a ride. With nothing more than a sigh, she made her way to where her guest sat to finish what had been started._

* * *

_“Hello again,” she greeted upon entering the room. “Please excuse this organism stationed atop my body, I have no control over its actions.”_

_The boy stared up at it awkwardly, then turned to face her. “What’s that?”_

_“I simply do not know. It does not appear to be parasitic, thankfully.”_

_She was being so incredibly calm about the situation that he didn’t know whether to be disturbed or humored. So much, so, that he almost forgot what he was even going to ask her. The creature bounced a few times, then stuck its quite long tongue out in front of her face, though she didn’t even flinch._

_From what it appeared, the child hadn’t moved from his original spot. Moving over to the bed he still remained on, she sat down a good distance from him, as the creature atop her looked to at least discomfort him._

_“Did you have any concerns I may be able to address?”_

_“Uh...” The creature stared through his entire body—giving an obvious unwelcome feeling despite not having a clue what it was supposed to be. Its tongue was pulled back into its mouth, leaving only a small dot on its gaping mouth visible from where he sat._

_He lost his entire thought process as a distant cackle echoed throughout his mind. It seemed to completely eradicate anything and everything it came across—be it thoughts, memories, and even a sense of what was going on all around. Within a moment, it evolved into a major headache that forced him to shut his eyes and clutch his head. He groaned as Susie moved over to support him with one of her hands._

_“Is everything alright?”_

_He fought a large struggle in attempting to get just a single word out his mouth. It was more than possible to get it open, but not quite to make a sound._

_“N... no...” he squeaked._

_With a good deal of effort, he forced his eyes barely open, though even if it was enough to clearly see anything, he couldn’t tell. Everything in the room looked like one large array of color, and only a mixture of grey and pink resonated within his vision. Perhaps she said something, but he was feeling so incredibly dizzy that he had no idea._

_In the next moment, he was let go, and the sound of the door opening up returned to him. Rather conveniently, the pain was immediately washed away, and slowly, he returned back to how he felt just a couple of minutes ago._

_As his consciousness finally returned to normal, the cackle returned, this time, he was sure, not limited to his mind. A short rummaging could faintly be heard from next door, then immediately followed by a purple swirl in the center of the room. In its place came a grey puffball with an odd jester’s hat, which he instinctively backed away from._

_“Hey buddy!” they broadcasted for the entire house to hear. “How’s it going?”_

_The boy whimpered and backed up against the wall again. There might have been a spell he remembered that could have assisted him, but the pure shock withdrew every single memory of importance from him._

_Even if they hadn’t been so loud, she would’ve returned at some point to find a third stranger within her household, this time not appearing so friendly. As quick as she entered the room, she pulled some sort of ray gun from her inventory and pointed it towards the intruder, though not fast enough to do much else. Within an instant, she collapsed onto the floor from a magical orb sent her way, leaving the blob to hop off her onto the ground._

_The new guest turned back towards him, a vicious smirk on his face. “Y’know what time it is now?” Both knew that he wasn’t expected to provide an answer._

_He didn’t even make an attempt to escape, instead simply watching himself follow in her tracks. Before passing out, the cackle returned for a third time, this time as real as could be. What would remain of the blue blob was likely to never reach his knowledge._

* * *

It’d been so long since the chat with his clone that the entire room seemed to have merged into just a single shade of grey, extending out for as far as his peripheral vision could see. The constant bounding and flailing of the other’s tongue was nowhere near enough to snap him back to reality, but in time, there was something that did.

One moment, he was still staring blankly at the ceiling, his mind completely clear from anything at all, then the next, he was staring towards the entrance to the cell in astonishment. Gooey stood happily, showing off his extraordinary feat in the form of the open jail door, its lock completely broken in half. The part that wasn’t still attached to the bars was within his tongue’s grasp, and it was soon swallowed up.

Mags simply stared in awe, not quite sure to be bewildered or amazed.

“How did you—” A short dance from the accomplished one, then he stuck his tongue out towards the remaining lock piece and devoured it. The egg got up off the bed and moved towards his companion. “Nevermind...”

Gooey blasted out of the containment as soon as his travel buddy finished his thought, and within moments, he was back to taste testing everything in sight. With rather reluctance, the other inmate slowly peeked outside, then cautiously strolled outside, already haven forgetten about the book he’d just received.

Everything was just as he remembered, though there was no time to check for what had changed. The top priority was finding wherever Susie was being held, which he seriously hoped wasn’t somewhere lost within the endless corridor. If he was lucky, she’d be somewhere in the dungeon, which looked to be the only sort of detainment station in the entirety of the caverns.

While Gooey was off bounding around with his tongue dangling, Mags searched carefully for what he was looking for. It’d only been one night—or at least he thought it had been—so she couldn’t have been in that bad of shape.

The first few cells at the edge of the room were completely empty, except for one with a dark shape inside. It was quite a bit shorter than himself, but in no sort of form that he could recall, and not long after he saw it, he moved past.

Much to his convenience, the exact figure he’d been looking for was one of the first ones he found. If the body shape and floating hands weren’t enough, the flowing hair was a dead giveaway, and the darkness’ efforts to prevent him from realizing weren’t enough.

“Susie!” he cried out, running up to the bars. As he approached, he could see she had her face to the wall, though she didn’t appear to move. “I’m gonna get you out of there, just... hang on a second.”

Quickly turning around, he scanned the area for Gooey in hopes he could do whatever it was he did to unlock the door. A short inspection revealed nothing, much to his dismay.

“I’ll be right back, I gotta go get Gooey. He helped me get out of the cell I was just in, and I’m sure he could help you, too.”

She still didn’t move. For a moment, he considered if he’d been tricked into believing it was a statue or a dummy, though he couldn’t quite piece together how it’d be made floating off the ground.

“I’m not the one you’re looking for.” The voice was exactly how he remembered it, but not the tone. Or the content of her speech, either.

Mags stuttered on a few things to say. “I was just with you! Do you not remember me?”

“Oh, I know exactly who you are. I’m the reason you wound up in that cell in the first place.”

“W-wait, what? But—”

“Hush.”

He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t figure out what. With what few words she had spoken already, he knew something was up.

Her shadow finally turned around, revealing the familiar blue eyes he had come to know. As she approached, though, the rest of her features quickly revealed that she was not the person he was looking for. She certainly had the same bodily structure he had remembered, but that was about all that was the same about the two. Her clothing was a darker shade, her hair was red, and she held a rather easygoing stance—one that conflicted with the formal one he’d become familiar with.

She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know why I even bother with him anymore.”

He considered backing out of there and searching around for anything else of interest, but she had to have some information he could use. “Where is she?”

“She? Please be more specific, I have no idea what you mean with pronouns.”

“Susie. I know she’s in here.” They stared at each other for a moment. “Is she?”

“Oh, do you not see the person standing in front of you? I think you might need to get your vision checked.”

“But you just said you’re not—”

“Yes, I did. Well, I suppose you caught me.” At the moment, he was more confused than anything else with what she was saying. “I’m Parallel, pleased to meet you. Said you’d be able to get me out of here, didn’t you?”

He paused, considering what to do. It would probably have no benefit of freeing her, but after a little thought put into it, he realized what could be done. “I dunno. Do you know where Susie is?”

“Need I repeat myself? I’m right here.”

A knot tightened in his throat, and he seriously wanted to just cut the conversation short and look around himself, but there was definitely something she wasn’t telling him. He gulped and stared her straight in the eye. “You know what I mean.”

“Persistent one, aren’t you? I could keep up the act, but I know you’d never quit it, so I might as well give what you need. Only on one condition.” He nodded. “You agree to free me afterward so I can find that fraudulent, scumbag of a scoundrel and make sure he learns his lesson.”

Even though she was being dead serious, her speech still amused him to a quiet snort.

“Do we have a deal, or are you chuckling that I’d be one to make such an offer?”

He quickly put himself back together and turned back to her. “I accept. But only if you tell me where she is first.”

“Hmm.” She placed a hand on her forehead and turned to the floor. “How can I make sure you won’t ditch me after I comply?”

“Because...” In all honesty, he had no idea how to convince her. Even if it would be dangerous to do so, the combined efforts of Susie and Gooey would probably be enough to make her back off if she did decide to turn on him.

“I suppose a shake would suffice.” She extended a hand through the bars out towards him. “If you take my hand, you’re agreeing to your end of the bargain, or I’ll personally seek you out and eradicate you off the face of this universe as soon as I make it out myself. Do we have a deal?”

He took her hand with no hesitation, then let her be the one to release.

“Fantastic.” She paused, staring down at him with an unrevealing look. “I’m honestly surprised you hadn’t found her already.”

“Then tell me where she is. You agreed to tell me before I freed you.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” A sigh emerged. “She’s been making it a personal effort to try and annoy me as much as possible for just about as long as she’s been here.” A short pause, probably in expectation for him to question what. “Have you not heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Down there, you numskull.” She stuck a finger out towards the cells he hadn’t yet explored. “Take a listen, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.”

Remaining as silent as he could, he opened his ears for any noise at all to come to him. Gooey rumbling around the room didn’t make it easy, but it almost sounded like...

He gasped, then quickly disregarded everything else and dashed out towards the sound.

“Hey! Where are you going!”

Past a few columns, sets of bars, and lanterns, almost to where Gooey was, he stopped in front of the cell he was looking for and stared inside anxiously. Inside was exactly the near-lifeless body he was looking for, panting heavily, eyes closed. She rested atop the bed, which was at least a step up from the hard, cold floor, with her hands placed at her sides. It was extremely unlikely she realized his or Gooey’s presence in the lockup.

With a few hard exhales of his own, he dashed out to find his blob buddy. He had no idea how it was done, but if there was the opportunity to break her free, there was no way he’d be letting it down.

Gooey thankfully wasn’t far, but he again realized the difficulty of getting him what he wanted to do. Telling him to go over and free her would do just about as much as punching the floor with his fists. His eating habits would work, but what could he eat to help break her out?

The lock.

That’s what.

“Gooey!” The blob turned to face him. “Come over here, there’s a tasty lock over here with your name on it, waiting to be gulped down by you, and you specifically.”

Fortunately, he started over towards the cells, leaving a proud Mags to follow him over. He was so incredibly excited to finally meet up with Susie again, and relieved that he’d finally have someone to protect him reliably.

Unfortunately, he soon realized that he hadn’t specified which door to open, and they stopped at the cell with the dark figure from earlier.

“Wait, n-no! Not this one.”

Gooey stared at him for a moment, then returned to the process, breaking it open within seconds. The egg sighed and made a facepalm.

“No, this one wasn’t the one for you. Follow me, I’ll show you which one it is.”

To get to his destination, he’d need to go by Parallel, which he’d disregarded in making the decision. As they passed by, she placed a hand at eye level to stop him.

“Forgetting someone?”

“N-no," he rasped, "I was just—”

“What were you doing, then?”

Gooey bounded forwards, waiting for him to catch up. After a short look up to her face, he narrowly squeezed by a quick attempt to snag him, then led the way for Gooey once more. From behind came nothing but silence.

Upon reaching their destination, Mags motioned towards the lock for the process to be completed. As he bounded up, Gooey blocked his vision from being able to observe what would be done. He waited anxiously for the crack, the signifier that he’d finally be reunited with his caretaker, bouncing with nervousness and mentally begging for it to arrive already.

It probably wasn’t more than a few seconds, but upon the sound resonating within his ears, he pushed past Gooey, dashed into the cell, and stood by the bed, staring dishearteningly at her fragile body.

“Susie?” he muttered. He wasn’t sure if it would have any sort of effect or not, or if she’d even be able to recognize his voice. Looking back, he wished he’d had spoken more so she could have familiarized herself with him.

She made no response, providing a good deal of fright, despite her having no idea there was someone else in the miniature room in the first place. He wasn’t ready to give up just there, though, and he moved closer to try again.

“Susie?”

There was a short moment as she attempted to recognize the voice she had just heard. With breaths of disbelievement, he prepared to go out again and start searching for something—he had no idea what, but something to help.

At last, her eyelids shifted, revealing the bright, pale blue eyes from beneath. She stared toward the ceiling for a moment, then used all of her current strength to face the boy standing beside her, earnestly concerned for her current well-being.

With a great deal of effort, she lifted one of her hands and reached towards him, barely even able to keep it in the air without losing control over it. Everything in sight merged together into a blur, though that one shade of blue standing just before her was one that she’d be sure not to forget so as long as they were both wandering around the caves. Two glowing ovoids staring her down were enough to make her realize just how much the boy needed her at the moment.

Extremely difficult to sense in her fatigued state was something warm lifting her hand up and grasping it tightly. Faint sobs quickly made way for the storm cloud that was his tight eyes from the skies above her, drizzling warm drops of liquid down onto her open palm. It formed into a small puddle that quickly dispersed upon being placed onto a soft fabric and rubbed around, finally enough to revive her at least enough to sense clearly.

Just above was the egg-shaped apprentice, bawling his eyes out once again at the apparent danger that she might not be coming out of her cell for a while. He squeezed her hand tightly against her own body, so tightly that it hurt just a bit, though she was in no position to object at the moment.

“I’m... here...” she assured him.

The boy continued his sniffles, struggling to make a noise otherwise. “We’ll make it out of here, won’t we?”

She nodded weakly. From outside, Gooey could be heard bouncing off in search of something to eat. And speaking of, that sounded really nice at the moment. Maybe something sweet, for a change, if that even existed where they were.

“Are you okay?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

She gave another weak nod. With a sniffle, he stuck a hand beneath his hood and rubbed his eyes.

“What’d they do to you?” His mind raced around in an attempt to find something else to question. “Are you hurt?”

A moment passed as she stared at him in the eye. With a shake of her head, she turned back to the ceiling.

“F-food...”

He whined once more. “You’re hungry? Don’t worry, I’ll go find something for you to eat. Just hang on a second.”

Gently setting her hand beside her, he backed up until reaching the door, never letting his eyes off of her. By now, her constant, frail panting was nothing more than a mirage against the sounds of gentle breezes and abnormal rings that occupied the lockup.

Just as he set out into the rest of the room, a weak call emerged from behind. In the cell, Susie was starting to pick herself up from the bed, reaching out lazily with a hand. Her other was still rested on the mattress.

Though she was nearly about to collapse, he made no move to help, instead awkwardly staring as she fell back down with a soft plop. He faced a short internal panic, then slowly made his way back to her side, quite unsure of what to be doing at the moment.

“No, no, stay here.” She groaned softly and placed a hand atop her forehead. “There’s no way you’re gonna be able to do anything out like this.”

With one hard wheeze, she turned to face him again. “Not safe... please...”

“I just had a look out there, and it was completely fine. I’ll be okay.” Actually, it would be nice to have her come along, but really, she’d probably just be of more hindrance than help. He hated to admit it, though it was the truth.

She ignored his reassurances and attempted to stand up once more, only to quickly receive the same result.

“I’ll be fine.”

One of her hands fell over the bedframe and dangled over the edge. With what little she had left, she attempted to set it back over herself, managing to succeed at the cost of severely draining her energy. He started outside, giving her an awkward wave at the door, then set out in search for some food. Without truly letting anything else acknowledge it, his subconscious considered just how much his personality had changed in a mere moment of seeing her in that condition. His hopes previously, possibly the reason for his odd transplant, and his decision to assist in the first place, just like how he’d imagined previously.

Only after completely making it out did he realize he had no idea if there even was any food in the area. And if there was no food, then she would be doomed to starve, probably soon, judging by her condition. Even if she miraculously didn’t collapse of famine for a while, there was still no way she was moving from that spot without first giving her something.

Not all was lost, though, because Gooey was with him. Hopefully he had some sort of food-detecting sense, which seemed likely, given how fond he was with the subject whenever it was brought up. Now just where was he?

A quick glance revealed nothing more than the landscape he had already seen quite a few times. Moving around to possibly see if the blob he needed was behind a pillar, he was still met with nothing. There were only so many places to hide, so where could he be?

From Parallel’s general direction came a sigh, though he wasn’t too concerned with it at the moment. Perhaps Gooey had entered one of the cells opened up by him, or maybe he’d gone into one that he’d opened up during his session with Susie. There weren’t too many to check, so he got started right away.

Just as he’d expected, all of the locks remained in the states he had remembered them as. He quickly realized this upon reaching his own cell, still empty as could be besides the spellbook. With merely a mental reminder that it was there, he continued onward to the next set to search.

A quick peek at the lock’s condition was all it took to tell whether or not Gooey could be hiding in one of them, and as just about all of them were exactly identical, he made his way to the opposite side of the room in record time. To his fortune, the familiar slobbering sounded to him not long after, and without any need to continue with what he was doing at the moment, he made his way toward it.

Inside the cell inhabited by the dark figure was Gooey, fiercely attempting to pry the lid off with his tongue. Adding to his streak of luck was the jar’s contents, which was certainly what Gooey was after. Packed to the very brim were many, many apples of varying shades of red, each surprisingly fresh despite what the rest of the room appeared to be. The lid was already sopping wet, so he decided not to come into contact with any of the germs hiding about on it and let the blob finish with what he was doing.

Quite a bit of struggle later left a disappointed Gooey to frown at his failed attempts. Completely ignoring the egg in the room with him, he bounced out in search of something that he could actually eat without going through an exhausting procedure.

Mags sighed and looked back to the dripping jar on the ground in front of him. If only there was a way to get this thing open... Well, for the time being, it would probably be best to bring it out and into Susie’s cell to multitask. His spellbook seemed like a good solution, but again, it would take time to search for what was needed.

Gooey decided to follow him all the way to his destination, only to immediately leave as the jar was set down on the ground. Susie made no action that revealed she acknowledged it was there, though the sound was obviously enough to alert her. With the slight turn of her head, she watched as the boy left once more to grab his book.

Immediately upon reaching the cell door, Gooey leaped directly in front of him and blocked the way inside. Mags attempted to squeeze by, but the blob was determined to make sure he didn’t go in.

“Uh, can I get by?” he asked shyly. It was quiet enough to serve as a mumble, just about, and he swiftly debated whether it was possible to be heard by anyone besides himself, of course, and possibly the blob in front of himself.

He shook his head, then bounced in place a few times, facing the large door at the end of the room. In the very next moment, he was already halfway to his destination, leaping forward with incredible speed.

Upon reaching the door, he turned back to the disbelieving boy, waving with his hands, begging him not to go inside. Mags moved just the slightest forwards, and he mimicked the movement towards the entrance. Both stopped in unison, then Gooey taunted him with a wave of his tongue. opened the door slightly, and burst inside.

“W-wait, get back here!” Despite making his best efforts to be heard, his general quietude toned down his volume to about a regular speaking voice, possibly, though he hadn’t heard enough of others to know.

At the moment, he had a choice whether to get the food for Susie, or to go find Gooey back and return him. With only a matter of moments to decide before one of them got into trouble, he took the latter option, completely disregarding everything else he was telling himself, and dashed after that blob. Hopefully it’d be fast enough to keep him out of trouble because he seriously wasn’t prepared to get into any sort of action.


	5. Lullaby of Overlords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big boy boss battle against the bad boyzzzz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick heads up: There's some child torture and light depictions of blood coming right here. Right here, up ahead. Down in these words below. Yup. Uh huh. Just so ya' know.

Back out into the familiar dome-shaped room through a narrow crack in the doorway, Mags nearly tumbled over rounding a corner too tight. With a short gasp and quite a bit of hope there weren’t any lingering splinters, he recovered his balance and stumbled out towards the blue figure already halfway across the room.

Gooey was so far out ahead that he felt like taunting his pursuer with a short dance and wave of his tongue, not even bothering to move any further during the procedure. He was so confident in himself, in fact, that he completed the most elaborate moves he could manage—spinning, and a lot of it. Spinning so much to the point where anyone else would be beyond dizzy if they attempted the same. One long air-drawing of his tongue later, and he was back to his getaway to no place in particular, the boy still quite far behind.

Perhaps it would have been a better idea to just let Gooey do his own thing for a while, and wait for him to return. It’d have meant more time spent doing something actually important, for one, and not so much fatiguing himself until he felt like he’d collapse. For the most part, this was just a wild goose chase leading around the same path he’d gone down previously, though he just couldn’t make himself turn back now, despite how much he wanted to.

Being so concerned with his main goal, he remained completely oblivious of the stone slab still sitting at the middle of the room, probably waiting to see if it would be used for something else rather than simply existing within the room. Fortunately for it, that dream looked to soon finally come true—its prey fast approaching. It made absolutely no move to do anything, instead simply waiting for the boy to arrive, and as it turned out, that worked out well in the end. For one, at least.

Even though it was so low on the ground, he still somehow managed to trip over it. Well, that could partly be due to the fact that he hadn’t yet matured enough to be floating any higher, but was his position really so low? Nevermind that for a moment, as he already hit his head against the soft grass, which softened the blow decently. It still hurt quite a bit, but it was better than if he had landed literally anywhere else.

Gooey mocked his clumsiness with yet another round of fierce licking. Obviously, it was the only thing he could do for the intended purpose, either because he refused to speak in the boy’s presence, or didn’t have the capability to altogether. And that got him wondering: What did Gooey sound like? Or what _would_ he sound like, if he didn’t have a voice? Bored and lightheaded, maybe, and probably some broken grammar in there to spice things up. Cutting off his sentences short, for say, or using extremely basic ones. But all of that was just one big conjecture.

Speaking of, the blob looked like he found himself cornered, despite having just about every direction available to flee in. For some reason, he just felt like waiting there, facing against the wall, most likely just staring at it. Maybe even forgetting what he was doing in the first place, which didn’t seem out of the ordinary at all for his character. As he approached, Mags considered if he was maybe being deceived, if this was all just a big trick in an effort for some decent humor at his expense. Everything just looked too easy—nothing was obstructing his path forward, and his target was completely motionless, as if waiting to be caught. In the end, though, it was all just adding up in his favor, he decided, and he’d take what he could get.

Sneaking up until just behind his victim, he prepared his move to catch him once and for all and bring him back to the cellhouse, ending the pursuit before it escalated any further, though he merely stopped just before him. Actually, it probably didn’t matter how sneaky he was being, as he wasn’t even on the ground anyway, and the only noise he made was probably a steady breathing, much too soft to be heard from their distance. Why couldn’t he just go up and nab the big lump of goo and get out of there? They were both right there, set up for his objective, and yet he didn’t budge. Gooey had to know he was there, there was no doubt about that, and any attempt for the capture would probably make a fool out of himself. That’s probably what he had to have been doing if he wasn’t trying to escape.

From behind, something creaked loudly, then the large door slammed shut, so forcefully that it shook the entire room softly, though of course, only one felt it. Mags jumped at the sound, despite well knowing it was coming, and turned around to see exactly what he was expecting. As it turned out, there didn’t look to be any sort of way to open the door from that side of it, which was quite a bit more than unfortunate, though Gooey’s odd thinking could probably find a way around what the laws of the door clan spoke of. Okay, things were certainly not looking good, and he should probably just get Gooey and get out of there already.

Turning around, he was met with Gooey staring just past him towards presumably what he had just been examining. He didn’t even make an effort to hide it—he just gazed at the boy’s eyes for a moment, then slowly turned back around to his original position, implicitly begging to just be caught already.

Mags heavily considered whether he should attempt to make a grab, or just walk out and hope Gooey would follow. There was no denying what he’d been thinking already, but if he was just asking to be caught... then of course, that wish could be fulfilled.

For a moment, they both lay immobile, still both considering their next move. Several thoughts and plans came and went through their minds, one with those of capture shrouded by a bulk of fear, the other with food and dreams of devouring all that could be. A sudden jolt came from the boy’s hands, then he backed away nervously. It _really_ would’ve been a good idea to get going soon, before anything else happened. Be it with effort or without, but just get going.

No more hesitation, just go up and get him already. At last, he moved up toward his target, only to stop just behind once more. Gooey looked to the side for a moment, then turned back to face the wall, dangling his tongue out to the side. But he didn’t come all this way for nothing, and with quite a bit of nervousness, he reached out forward with his hand, setting it just atop the blue blob in front of himself.

He prepared himself, just in case Gooey decided to turn around and eat him whole or the like, which seemed like a good possibility. Instead though, he simply turned around and stared at him awkwardly, contemplating on only the most important of concerns at the moment, such as how long he could perform a tongue-stand without falling over. Maybe he could give it a try in a bit. Maybe now, actually.

To his expectation, the goo slid past him and burst back out toward the door, which got him wondering what they had gone over to the wall in the first place for, but that was all over, now. With a sigh of relief, he walked back out toward his companion to hopefully return to what he was doing in the first place.

Once he got back to Susie, it would probably be a good time to relay the information his clone had relayed to him. It might have all just been a big misconception, and there really was no way to stop Shadow from what he was doing. Hey, maybe it was all just a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation, given his allegiance, though he did have to wonder about that act of generosity with the book. A trap, it had to be, then. Or, maybe he himself was in the wrong, and the assistant really did want to help them out of there.

“Someone mention me?”

All at once, he halted all forms of movement. For the umpteenth time, he felt his heart rate increase substantially, quickly rising to the point where he could feel the beating over his fearful breathing. Of course he’d forgotten about the most prominent threat in this cave system, and the overseer no doubt came upon seeing him nearly defenseless. And within a moment, he’d be there, staring him down with a lunatic smile and monstrous appearance in general. 

The portal appeared just about where it had last time, though from the new angle he found himself in, it could have been more to the side of the platform without him realizing. A cackle echoed throughout the entire room as the puffball made his grand opening, soon lessening until forming only from his own mouth. Mags didn’t dare make a move, unsure of the results, though Gooey seemed to not have noticed someone else had entered yet.

“Heard you called?” Shadow flapped his wings a few times, then glided down until he was just above the ground. Slowly, he started approaching the boy ahead of himself, who ever so slowly backed up towards the wall. “And my servant, too. Thanks for the info, ‘cause now I know he’s a traitorous scum. Shoulda just tossed him out as soon as I found him."

By now, the jester’s prey had already reached the wall, and fell over upon bumping into it. Without much else to do, he held his hands in front of his face and whimpered.

“Actually, no. Still worked good. A fair punishment, or else I’d need to find someone else that’d word just as hard. Which would prolly be difficult, and I don’t wanna face a challenge.” He finally set himself down on the ground and took the last steps forward until reaching the egg, still keeping his wings out the whole time. “Anyways, ‘nuff said about him, that’s not why we’re here, is it?”

As much as he tried not to, he could only keep his limited vision fixed on the overlord placed in front of him. Out the corner of his wet eye was a speck of blue from the other end of the room, though a combination of too many factors for him to even count prevented him from noticing.

“Now, how many times do I need to teach you this lesson? Either obey my instructions or face the consequences. In this case, it looks like you’ve been begging for the latter, so why not tidy things up now? Least you’ll get a feel for what’s to come soon.” Mags whimpered once more and let out a sniffle. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know what’ll happen beforehand.”

Shadow took the last step forward, pressing his foot directly against the boy’s body. With his other, he set it to the side to make way for his large wing, which he placed directly in front of the other’s face.

“Hmm. Let’s see here.” He stuck the sharp tip of his jagged wing down under Mags’ hood, though didn’t yet place it on his face. “Say I declare what you’ve done a small act of disobedience. No biggie.”

The point was gently placed against his face and gently stroked downward. It hurt so, so much, and he couldn’t tell if it was bleeding or not. With absolutely all the strength he could muster, he forced himself not to scream, as that was exactly what Shadow was aiming for, he was sure of it.

“If that’s the case, I’ll just give you one of my massages. Lucky for you, I’d give an exclusive face rub with the relaxation of my wing. It seems begging to start the process already, and I have to say, I’d be more than willing to fulfill it’s wish.” He lifted his wing off and stroked it downward again, emitting a strong grunt from the boy. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case this time, so it’d have to pass.” 

The last portion of the stroke was placed down just a bit harder, tearing slightly into his skin. No matter how much stronger it actually was, it still hurt so much harder, and it was near impossible to keep from screaming out at the top of his lungs.

“So how ‘bout if it’s a moderate act of disobedience? Well, let me recall.” He paused his wing just in front of the two bright, yellow ovoids staring down at his shoes, then placed it back down and returned to what he was doing, this time with even more force. “Oh, that’s right! Turns out you would be able to get that massage I promised after all. Only this time, it comes with a complimentary session with the therapist. Oh, wait, that’s me.”

Mags only barely managed to conceal his inner emotions from escaping his mouth, instead continuing his tearing up. His occasional sobbing shook his head slightly, adding even more pain to what was already there. By now, tears weren’t the only fluid running down his face and onto his robes.

“But that’s not the case, either. Oh, certainly not.” Shadow finally extracted his entire wing from under his hood, bending it in front of himself to get a good look at the dark red spot on the tip of his own torture device. “This is a much, much more serious case. You’ve done far too much for me to just let this all slide with anything more lenient.” He immediately stuck it back where it was, resting it atop the boy’s furry face. “How about you take a guess as to what you’ll receive for this? Take three.”

Obviously, he received no response beside the sounds already emerging. His own blood was the only thing keeping his own face warm at the moment, and even then, it wasn’t much of a relief.

“Time’s up. I’ll just tell ya’.”

As slowly as he possibly could without digging down, he scraped it across the other side of his eyes, so firmly that a stifled wail escaped through his mouth, followed by as much effort as he could put into only letting out a hard sucking through his scarcely open mouth.

“I don’t have the generosity of a massage, this time around. Something like this deserves something more. Much more. And since you’re still a youngling, I have something special, too.” Shadow leaned in close for a whisper as another shriek barely escaped the confines of the other’s lungs. “You wanna know what I do to kids that disobey my orders?”

Mags made an internal shake of his head, albeit just barely from all the fear occupying the rest of his head’s space. What remained that wasn’t of these two was all begging not for anything else to not happen, though he knew it wouldn’t make any sort of difference.

Though his eyes had been shut for quite a while already, he knew well what was happening to himself, but not what was to come soon after. None of his tears’ pleads prevented the insane pain of hard scales from digging down into his face as slow as they could, ever so slowly letting the spoils of spelunking seep out through the smallest opening lining the hole.

“I give ‘em the special treatment.”

It was all just far too much for him, and through all the sobs, pain, and fear, he screamed as loud as he could, only worsening the pain from the sudden jerk of his head. As he let the first shriek come to a close, the sound came of Shadow chuckling, immediately evolving into his signature laugh that everyone dwelling below had come to know so well. The pain kept increasing as he slowly jutted it deeper, forcing another cry of immense suffering to arise from him. Maybe... it was finally the end of the road for him, all his life leading up to this point in time, where he collapsed from a maniac captor finding amusement in a boy’s suffering.

Another wave of pain surged through his body, forcing another scream out and cutting off his thought process. If Shadow found all this so amusing, he’d keep him at the very least alive, right? Of course, there was no way it’d be better than the other option at the moment, given his previous behavior, but there might be just the slightest sliver of hope left if he didn’t fall then and there.

One more influx of hurt ran down his entire body and even to his arms, resetting his thoughts back to the current situation. He was screaming as loudly as he could, his body nowhere near tolerating any of what was going on at the moment. The only times he stopped were to take breaths, in which even with the slightest movement by him, it still sent out more waves of tears.

“Scream and cry all you want! Your mommy ain’t coming.”

Maybe it was the greatest miracle to ever occur for his entire lifespan, or maybe it was just some dumb stroke of luck, but suddenly, Shadow’s entire wing was extracted from his face, sending off one immense jolt of pain as a send-off gift before leaving. A short grunt emerged from ahead, completely shrouded by his continuous wailing, followed by a pulse of energy bouncing off what sounded like his wing. The pressure against his body was suddenly removed as Shadow yelped away from some unknown force. In his current state, it was hard to tell exactly how long, but a short time later, the angel that had taken pity on his poor soul gently placed their hand beneath his body and lifted him slightly into the air, then dashed off.

It was still far too difficult to open his eyes, so there was no way to tell who it was without physically hurting himself. The only other one in the room besides Shadow and himself was Gooey, but first of all, he didn’t have hands, and even if he did, the act of saving him was far out of his personality. Besides that, he was in too much agony to continue thinking about it. Without even realizing he had stopped in the first place, he continued his wailing.

The door creaked open just as Shadow’s familiar magic crackled against the walls and floor, thankfully managing to miss the both of them. Whether Gooey was following or not was a complete mystery in his current state.

“How’d you—Get back here and give me that kid!”

Wood slammed against the wall with such immense force that it could nearly be heard over his screaming. As he continued onward with his current strategy of dealing with the suffering, something gently stroked against his head a few times, just barely enough to distract him from the chaos pursuing himself and his savior.

“I got you,” the familiar voice whispered in his ear. “I’ll keep you safe.”

“Let ‘em go already!”

The caresses continued as a short gust of frigid wind blew against him, which would have made him shiver if it wasn’t for everything else he was experiencing at the moment. More thunder struck against the cellhouse’s bars, brightening his shut eyelids slightly from the light radiating off of it.

A sigh emerged from an audience member as they passed by. He could hear her say something, though not exactly what through his mere sobbing.

“Just... stop! You don’t need him!”

“You’re such a strong young boy for making it here,” Susie muttered to him, “you know that?” He reduced his own ruckus enough to barely hear what she was saying. “Others would have—”

The rest of what she said was cut off by some incoherent screeching by Shadow. Another wave of thunderbolts ravaged the surroundings, one narrowly missing the two of them judging by how loud the sound of it was. Others sounded off against the narrow corridor that contained him, enough to reveal just how far they’d gone.

Soon after the last door slammed open, a bolt collided directly with the body carrying him, sending her tumbling forward with the shout he had remembered from not long ago. Through all of the intense rumbling, she somehow managed to keep him from getting injured any further besides a soft plop against the ground. He was shortly brought back to his original position.

“Nowhere to run now!” Shadow’s voice echoed across the entire dome, escaping through the small hole in the roof. “Alright, hand him over. Else I’m taking you, too. Actually, hand him over _and_ I’ll take you, too.”

Susie panted and slowly got back up, keeping him within her grasp like an oversized baby.

“My... apologies, but I simply cannot comply with that order.”

“Well, gee, it doesn’t look like you’re one to argue right now. Might have to tack on some added fun for that remark alone. Also, you’ve already seen this room before, where did you expect to be going? There’s no escape here.”

“That was not... my intention.”

Mags just barely managed to squeeze his eyelids open, enough to see a remote within her free hand. Her thumb pressed the only button on it, though he didn’t keep his eyes open long enough to see what came from it.

Before another action could be heard from anyone, something descended down from high above, shortly slamming into the ground with a hard clang. Within a moment, he was laid down to rest on a soft surface as a few buttons were pressed on something within his own reach. A small click sounded, then came the sound of metal slamming something hard against the wall. Shadow grunted at the sudden impact.

“Oh, come on! No fair!” He repeated the one and only attack he’d been doing for the past however so long. “Fine. If you wanna be cheatin’ then I guess I’ll be cheatin’. Don’t blame me if you accidentally lose one of your hands.”

His eyelids barely managed to open once more as a magic orb whizzed above them. All he could see was a bright shade of pink standing out against the dark cavern roof before wincing back and closing his eyes once more. With a few short whimpers, he laid a hand to rest over himself.

At the very least, if he wasn’t able to see what was going on around him, he could try to piece together what was happening from the reverberations bouncing across the walls. Lots of hard clashes against what was probably Shadow and a metallic object, mechanical whirring and moving, and Susie occasionally expressing her determination through various grunts—looked like it could be pointing to just about anything involving general chaos. Oh, or it could be a battle between the two of them. Probably that. The big question of how she even managed to hold up against their foe while simultaneously keeping him safe without laying a hand on him still remained, though.

A few more inputs were pressed on a control panel of some sort, then he felt one of her hands gently placed over his own. Some frantic rummaging through a drawer, probably, then another click. A faint aura of heat appeared just above his eyes, threatening to pull off his hood for whatever reason. He instinctively pulled his hands over the article to keep it down.

“Please, I must remove your overgarment to perform this operation.”

He opened his eyes just the slightest to see one of her hands placed just above his eyes, still prepared to reveal his face from beneath the darkness provided by his hood. Somewhat obscured by it was her face, completely coated beneath an orange visor covering the entirety of it. After a moment’s hesitation, he reluctantly set his hands down.

“It will only be a moment.”

Before she could begin with her planned procedure, the entire ground beneath them shook violently, sending her toppling over. As much as she tried not to, she managed to land her head directly on the boy in front of him, sending out a long and loud groan shortly after. His hard panting returned afterward, soon evolving back into tears.

She was so shocked by what had just unintentionally been sent on him that she couldn’t even release a word. Her own panicked breaths halted her will to go any further, but only for a moment before remembering what needed to be done.

Unfortunately, her pause was long enough to allow another projectile to rock the surface below once more, though she managed to prevent herself from accidentally injuring him any further just in time. A few more hard exhales later, then she removed both hands from the egg and stroked the back of his head softly.

“I’m... sorry for this.”

Patiently as he could, he waited in expectation for the cold breeze to slap across his face in the absence of the silky shield protecting it, though the continuous pain aching every portion of his body that devoured all tolerance that remained made it difficult. Maybe only a few seconds or so later, and his brain nearly forced out another scream from one more wave of pain.

Their surface rocked enough to the point where he was nearly toppled over on his side. It was so incredibly difficult to keep from crying out again, but the very presence of Susie just next to him was narrowly enough to prevent it from happening. He seriously didn’t want to make her hear that all over again, especially given how much he’d done so since they left the opposite dome room. More importantly, it’d be best not to distract her while she was busy, but that wasn’t his main focus at the moment.

As another round of magic bursts arrived, the entire ground beneath him suddenly disappeared, leaving him to fall a short distance back onto what he just laid on. Something below sputtered and overheated, giving absolutely zero sense as to what was actually going on. For his caretaker, though, she sounded a little distressed, and maybe defeated judging by her harsh breathing.

“Come on, gimme something harder!” Shadow’s voice was so distorted that it was hard to tell it was his at all. “Alrighty, act’s over. You wanna keep going or hand yourselves in?”

A short moment occurred as he realized now what had happened. Susie had to have had something else planned, right? They weren’t going to just get tossed back in prison again, right?

“How ‘bout this. You come with me, or you get—”

No matter how hard he could ever try, it was extremely unlikely he’d ever be able to visualize what was to come within the next ten or so seconds. As he finally snapped back to reality from a blank state in mind, he attempted to at least recall what the noises were to see if they actually meant something, or they were way out of his understanding. Or perhaps it didn’t matter at all, and he was just wasting brain power thinking about it.

No faster than Shadow had begun talking, something flew off towards him from just above the egg boy, striking with such force that it managed to send him crashing to the ground. Not a moment later, and something slammed down onto the ground, presumably directly over him, something like a muffled cannon explosion, then an ear-piercing screech emerged that would probably have damaged their sense of hearing if it hadn’t immediately left through the opening in the roof. The next thing he knew, he was scooped back up and sent a cold gust as they picked up speed and entered the doorway to the cells.

There was no way for him to prevent another shriek from escaping as more fluid seeped from the deep scar across his face. Across the back of his head came reassuring pats and caresses that accomplished absolutely nothing related to the ongoing pain.

“Just a little longer,” she whispered, “okay? Keep going, I know you can.” He barely managed to nod.

Not too much later, and they slammed through another door. The hands beneath himself were shortly removed as he was transferred to a new carrier for the time being—the cold, hard floor, and all the cracks to come with.

Before even given proper warning, she pulled down his hood and placed a metallic object gently down on the end of his gash. Ever so slowly, it made its way across until reaching the deep stab wound, in which case it was retrieved. A smooth texture was placed over the hole and set down with gentle pressure, forcing him to grunt until it was removed once more. Some shuffling around of objects across the floor, then a thin surface was laid across the entirety of his injuries and stuck there with an adhesive substance, managing to just barely steer clear of his mouth. More objects scattering about, then a hand smoothed out the new surface on his face. It soon moved over to the opposite side of his face, stroking across gently before being lifted off.

“All done.” She patted the top of his head softly. “I knew you could do it.”

He managed to calm himself down to mere sniffles. His injuries still throbbed with pain, though they steadily faded away. When it reached a tolerable level, such as that of a minor cut, the healing process paused.

Without quite knowing what to do, he reached out blindly, possibly considering if he should get back up. His hand was grasped by her own, but instead of helping him up, she held it in place. A moment passed, then she set it to rest over himself, giving another pat on the head.

“Get some rest now,” she whispered. “Your injuries require healing.”

He made no complaints and let his other hand to rest. If he could finally get some time to take a nap, then he’d sure be taking it. And without all the immense pain from earlier, it’d be much easier to relax. Oh, but then they’d have to continue their journey when he got up... 

_When_ he got up, of course. For the time being, just sit back, stare at his closed eyelids, and let the gentle heat atop his forehead lull him to sleep. It didn’t even matter to him that his face was still showing, either.


	6. Beyond Confines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to go home, at last.
> 
>   
> ...one isn't looking forward to it.

For the third time in the past... day or two, probably, his eyes were shut, and he was barely awake. Just enough to be conscious, but not enough to yet open his eyes. It’d probably be blinding to even open them at the moment, anyway, and that was completely fine. He was fine. He’d be fine. Nothing around seemed to debate that fact, which was completely alright. Actually, as for the only thing he could feel that wasn’t the cold floor or air, it pretty much accomplished the opposite—threatening to send him back to sleep if he didn’t do anything to prevent it. Unfortunately, though, he had reached _that_ stage where it was nearly impossible to return to his dreams, but hey, that gentle heat was so, so nice against the frigid air.

Say, he was fairly thirsty though. What little moisture that remained in his mouth was quickly sucked away behind his throat, but with how comfortable he already was, he didn’t even care. Not like he was about to get up and find something to drink, anyway, because for one, there wasn’t exactly anything easy to find around the area, and he didn’t want to be exploring out for any longer than he already had.

Almost reading his mind, the hand stroked against his forehead, so gently that he almost felt like a baby all over again, getting sent back to sleep by... wait, probably best not to be thinking about that at the moment. Besides that, though, he wanted nothing more than to just lay there on the ground, clutching his own chest as an invisible pillow, no matter how uncomfortable it may be after a while. That’s just how it all seemed though, and sooner or later, something would swoop down and ruin his day once more. Happened twice already, and it’d make sense to happen again.

Instead, though, the only thing that descended upon him was a relieved sigh, so close, in fact, that he could feel the warm breath against his face. If it weren’t for the fact that he was half-asleep at the moment, he would’ve been disturbed that someone had their head so incredibly close to his own, but of course, he didn’t need to be wide awake to know who it was. He responded with a soft hum of comfort, then exhaled a deep breath onto his observer. From the sound of it, she was so close that she could probably see his eyelids closed below all the fur on his face...

Wait, what was that? She could... oh no.

 _That_ wasn’t good.

Quick as his not-quite-yet-perfected thunder spell, he lurched back with the help of his hands, immediately falling over on his back. A gasp emerged from ahead, where Susie was staring at him in a mixture of disappointment and wonder. He fumbled around behind his head and quickly set the hood back over it, highly embarrassed at what she’d seen. Oh no... oh... how long had he been asleep for?

“Oh, you’re awake.” Though certainly not intended, she came off as a little concerned at his immediate reaction.

At that point he didn’t even care if there was some evil lurking about. Or the new location he was in. All that mattered to him was how much she’d seen of his exposed face, and how much she’d decide to soon taunt him for it. He could feel the heat rising in it, too, and the very fact he even had that hood was something he was sure to be eternally grateful for. Oh, and the fact that he’d learned early on how to hide all but his bright eyes when it was up—placing the darkness over them he’d become so accustomed to over the years. Thank goodness he managed to obtain the book he needed so quickly.

A moment passed in silence between them, though he was sure it was just her coming up with a remark to mock him with. He’d... press through it. Just like all the other kids said to him, he’d just... ignore it. They’d have to leave the topic eventually, but there’d still be the embarrassment beforehand.

“May I remove what remains atop your face?”

He looked slightly up, just barely enough to see the folded hands in front of her. She... wasn’t going to make fun of him? Oh, wait, this was just an attempt to make it seem that way. Right. She was right about there being something on his face, though, which he only now realized. And speaking of, all the pain beneath he’d remembered from not long ago had now disappeared.

With a low squeak, he turned back to his crack on the floor, which ran farther than his vision stretched. He’d probably figure out how to take that off, and maybe he’d be able to use it for something, too. Just not now. Not with her around.

A hand was gently placed atop his back, giving a short chill down his entire body, despite being warmer than himself. He looked up slowly to see Susie staring down at him, not a hint of derisive intent in her eyes.

“Please. I’m sure it would be rather inconveniencing to have that stuck to yourself for extended periods of time.”

At the very edge of his peripheral vision, he could spot her bright hair, somehow still in the same condition it had been in when he’d first seen it. His face grew even redder than it already was as the embarrassing thought resurfaced.

With all the emotions he was facing at the moment, he managed a slight nod and another squeak. He was far too nervous to move his hands even an inch at the moment. It didn’t look like she was willing to touch him, either, probably because she knew any such contact would result in even more discomfort at his expense.

“May I?”

“Yeah.” His voice emerged so quietly that even he could barely hear it.

Only after the cold air brushed against his face again did he understand what she was asking. Thankfully, she managed to make as little contact with his body as possible, else otherwise it would’ve been impossible to look away from the floor.

Just in front of his face, he could make out one hand edging closer and closer, then suddenly drawing itself back. Could she please just hurry up and complete the procedure already? Things were already bad enough, and he really didn’t want to reveal his ‘hidden identity’ for any longer than he had to. Actually, could she see the blush on his face? Just... oh no indeed. Hopefully she’d take it off without any effort, and she wouldn’t have to see any more of his “cat-like” face, as others called it—something he had yet to learn the meaning of.

“Could you look up a little?”

He hesitantly obeyed. Okay, okay, this shouldn’t take long, just keep the thought of the current situation away until it’s over.

The warmth gently plastered across his cheek, adding even more to what was already there. Steadily, it grabbed the sheet still attached and lifted it off, bringing not even a single trace of pain. Except she was so incredibly slow at doing it. So slowly that he could probably name all the spells he’d ever learned how to use before she was finished. Of which there had to be only around five or so, but still.

Upon finally finishing the dreadfully long procedure, she gently patted him on the face with her free hand.

“Did that hurt?”

“N—yes...” Of course, it didn’t actually, but looked like he was rolling with that.

It didn’t matter how much he wanted to, but he didn’t cover his face again, in case she wasn’t finished. He didn’t want to have to deal with anything else than he already had.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She gently stroked the now-healed area. “Was I too rough?”

A nod unintentionally came from him. Oh no, what was he doing now? He’d been given protection and saved from eternal imprisonment by her assistance... and now he’s lying.

Instead of simply leaving it at that and setting his hood back up, she instead took the extra step to comfort what she assumed she’d just done. After setting down what remained in her hands, she gently caressed the top of his head, which against his bare skin felt so, so nice. It didn’t even matter to her that it was completely filthy from how long it’d been since he washed it. A contented hum nearly escaped his mouth, but he managed to hold it in.

“I’m sorry.” She patted his head gently a few times, then resumed the process. The brightness of his eyes narrowly missed completely burying itself behind his eyelids for a moment.

Not long after, she decided that was enough and halted the motion, much to his dismay. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

With everything regarding his face hopefully said and done, what was left to be doing? Getting out, of course, but what about Shadow? Oh, right, Shadow. He shivered at the mere thought of the maniac.

“Oh, you needn’t concern yourself with him,” she declared, reading his exact thoughts at the moment. “He’s no longer here to harass us.”

Her reassurances meant nothing as he stared forward in total shock. It wasn’t the fact of his presence that concerned him, but more so what had been done before his rest. His maniacal laugh, taunting any attempt to just forget about the jester once and for all. That monstrous face, devilishly smirking down upon him with the souls soon to be lost to his relentless torture. And his attitude toward his own subordinate, one that seemed to barely acknowledge he was any more than a mindless body given life by his own magic.

Before he knew it, both her hands were back, this time surrounding him completely, gently holding his body against her own. Her soft breathing patted against the top of his head, which was already relaxing, and was soon accommodated by a physical heat source, gently rubbing around on his head once more.

“He’s gone,” she whispered. “I made sure of it. He will not be returning.”

It already felt nice enough with her hand alone against his bare skin, but with how softly she stroked his fur with it... just, wow. But no matter how nice it felt, the sensation wasn’t what was on his mind at the moment. Not even close.

For the first time since... he couldn’t even recall, he’d received what he’d been longing for so long.

Finally, there was someone who actually cared about him. Even if just for their stays down below. And from someone he’d known for not even a few days. The very fact that she decided to help him through all this was staggering, to say the least, though, his age probably contributed to that.

He almost cried at how happy he was, how much he was feeling at the moment, but he still didn’t want to make Susie feel uncomfortable. As soon as they were separated, he’d make sure to take a good look back at all of this and let out all his emotions—etching the whole thing into his memories for eternity because this was a journey he’d never, ever forget, and not solely because of the pain he’d gone through.

Up until the point where he was let go, he’d completely forgotten she was still holding on to him. As the chilliness returned to every inch of his body, he desperately wanted to go back and surround her in his own hands, but it was too late for that. Maybe he could find a way to get one more hug before returning to the life he knew.

He was so very close to letting out yet another round of tears and sobs, but the sudden creak of the door ahead grabbed his attention before he could do so. Susie turned around as well to see who it was, completely blocking his vision toward it unless one of them moved. Wait, now that he was taking a good look at the room, there was still one of their party missing, so that had to be...

“Oh, was I interrupting something?”

She took a quick look back into his eyes, then lifted the hood back over his head without giving a choice. Fine by him, at least. It was more than obvious already that he didn’t want anyone else seeing beneath it, and he probably would have forgotten it was lowered, anyway. While she turned away, he quickly adjusted it to hide all but his eyes.

“No, no, come in.”

The situation probably looked rather odd to the new guest, though it only remained for a moment. With a pat of his now covered head, Susie stood up and turned to face the opposite version of the boy just beside her.

The older egg awkwardly scratched his head as he silently approached. “Uh, thanks guys for defeating my master. That’s... I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Yes, I suppose it would have been rather difficult to leave had he not been. Perhaps he should have taken into account what to do should his plans had failed, though he received a fair penalty for failure to do so.”

“Heh, yeah...” He took a quick glance at his younger self, who quickly looked back down upon meeting eye contact. “And sorry I couldn’t help defeat him. It would’ve been... uh, dangerous for me to head on out there. Because I guarantee I would’ve been his first target as soon as he saw me.”

“That’s quite alright. We managed fine.”

“Oh, cool...” He thought for a moment. “Oh, right! I came here to tell you thr—uh, two that I can help in getting you back where you belong. I would’ve done so earlier because I didn’t want you here, suffering under my master’s reign, but he wouldn’t have been so keen on the idea.”

“That would be pleasant, thank you. May I ask when would be a suitable time to undergo the procedure?”

“Er, soon as you’re ready, I suppose.” He chuckled softly. “If there were any others like you here, I’d let them out as well. Or, actually, anyone that had plans on the other side of the mirror. Not really anything stopping me.”

Mags, at least, was highly confused by his last remark. The only other person besides the three in the room and Gooey he knew was down there were some of Shadow’s underlings and Parallel, though the mirror part was the more confusing aspect.

“The Dimension Mirror. Or a lesser variant of it, with the same effects.” A short pause signified that they still hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. The former assistant sighed. “It’ll take you back home. The world you call home, actually, it's pretty unlikely you’d end up exactly at your home.”

“And does this process come with risk of failure? I apologize in advance if this is a absurd question.”

“No, it’s alright. I wouldn’t expect you to be familiar with these concepts if you hadn’t studied deep into them. This mirror-portal has been used a hundred times, and so far, not once has it backfired. Unless, of course, you’d like to find a different way.”

“If the statistics point to success, I am alright with it.” She turned to the boy standing next to her, eager to take her hand, though not doing so solely for his timid nature. “Would you be okay with the procedure to return home?”

Though not entirely sure what they would be doing, he nodded. Anything if it meant getting out of this place, even if Shadow wasn’t around to torment them any more. It wouldn’t exactly be much better if they were headed to the place he remembered, but at least it meant no sleeping in cells all day. Actually, on second thought, the bed was probably better than any old random spot on the grass... was his other self staying in this underground place? Maybe he could... just, possibly stay, too.

“Alright, see you guys in a bit. Meet me at the moonlit dome room when you two are ready.” With that, he gave the two a wave, but paused just before teleporting off. “Er, could I ask how you two managed to even break out? Just curious.”

“Oh, I had no part in the breaking process.” She turned down to him for a moment. “It was all down to my little savior here.”

Well, really it was Gooey, but...

“Oh, really?” One peek was all it took to tell he was highly embarrassed about her remark, and most certainly nervous to speak at all.

“Certainly. I was provided with necessary nourishment, thanks to you.”

He couldn’t even look up anymore. Oh... did she really think that highly of him?

“Could I just ask what there even was to eat down here? Far as I’m concerned, there isn’t anything exactly tasty lying around down here.”

“A form of fruit, I recall. I’m... unsure precisely, I wasn’t very well nourished at the time.”

“And uh, how about your gadgets?”

“In this very room. I’m confounded as to the reasoning behind every one of my missing possessions remaining here, though I am much thankful for it.”

“Guess he was just too lazy to hide them—I mean, give me the order to hide them somewhere. Got what he deserved, too.” They stared at each other for a moment. Mags, meanwhile, had found his new acquaintance to converse with in the form of a junction of cracks in the floor. “Well, I gotta go. Set minions free, and all. Don’t worry, I’ll still be waiting where you need me.”

Now, he gave them a wave and warped away for good, leaving behind a short breeze for the two of them.

Susie turned back to him with a blank expression on her face, though it was quite difficult to make one with only eyes on her face. Good thing they’d finally be getting out of there. Maybe more of just the fact that Shadow was gone, actually. Not like he’d be doing any better back “home”.

“Are you prepared for departure from these premises?”

“Yeah.”

She took his hand and faced the door, waiting for him to follow. “Come.”

Not even a moment was given to allow him a chance of moving along with her before the door opened up once more, this time nowhere near as subtle as his clone’s entrance. Immediately back hiding behind her body, he barely peeked out to see the one forgotten person he still dreaded down there. Or, actually, there was the entirety of the Heftys, but they were probably just following orders.

“There you are!” Parallel exclaimed playfully. “Come with me, I have something special planned for you.”

“And what exactly would that encompass?” Susie did the best she could to completely block the view between her own double and the boy.

“Oh, please stay out of this. This solely concerns the boy and I.”

She took a quick glance toward the egg, who was almost shaking behind her. “I cannot leave him in your care without prior explanation of your intentions.”

Her doppelganger started forward. “Stand aside—”

“My offer stands final. Make your decision.”

Both remained silent for a moment, leaving only a slight whimpering that quickly diminished.

“I wouldn’t have thought that my counterpart would be so stubborn. People are already saying that about myself—I suppose we happen to have more in common than other pairs.” She peeked out to the side to get a good look at the boy. “Oh, but I still have certain ‘business’ to take care of. I’m sure both of us know precisely what this encompasses, too.”

“Would you care to provide your end of the bargain?” He was gently pushed back out of her sight.

“Oh, so a bargain this is now. I refuse.” The two stared at each other in silence for a moment, each probably considering their next move. “I haven’t had a very delightful experience recently with the concept. Stand aside, or I will have to involve you in our little conflict, and—”

She silenced herself immediately upon spotting something in her double’s hands, out of sight from his perspective. The silence was enough to make way for a distant bouncing to approach, though none acknowledged it.

“You’re awfully protective of him.”

“Leave immediately.”

“Oh, fine.” She quickly obeyed, reaching the door within an instant. “See you soon!” Mags quickly ducked back behind his cover.

With a short look of glee in her eyes, she opened the door slightly to head out, only to immediately be slimed by a familiar tongue, which he wasn’t quite sure to be thankful about seeing or not.

“You—”

Gooey burst past her and slammed the door shut, bumping her aside with such a strong force that he heard the familiar yelp for the third time within his adventure. A short dance later, then he approached the other two in the room.

“Oh, I didn’t know you’d be so delighted to see us again.” She patted the blob on the head, making him drool onto the floor. “I assume you wouldn’t prefer staying down here any longer, yes?”

As the two exchanged their own forms of affection, Mags completely lost all focus to his mind. Now the literal pile of goo was the one receiving all the attention—the one that barely even knew the difference between an apple and a brick, probably. The very same one that still had no idea who she even was... was the one getting the treatment he’d just been given. He probably had somewhere to be when they got home, though, and maybe even close friends. Maybe he deserved it, then, much, much more than himself. Not maybe, actually. That blob _definitely_ deserved it more than the outcast he was “known” as. If he even was known at all...

“Are you prepared to exit?”

He quickly snapped back to reality, where Susie was staring down at him. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

Gooey watched as the two took hands, then quickly headed back to the wall to do whatever his mind could think up at the moment.

“Come.”

Time to go, finally.

* * *

A quick wave of the older mage’s hands was all it took to force the hidden door slowly open, much in the same way as the one on the opposite side of the room, which still shone down a sole patch of moonlight from the roof, despite how long it’d been. Now that he thought about it, if Gooey hadn’t been with them at the beginning, they’d probably have been spending much longer in that room, searching around in hopes of finding something, anything that’d help them escape that dreaded pit. Actually, they probably could have managed without—oh, wait, the prison cell. Okay, Gooey was a valued member of their party and they probably would have been doomed without him.

The three—more of two, with one lazy trailer—followed down the empty corridor for perhaps only a moment or two before reaching a room just as bare. The only thing beside torches within was a good-sized mirror lying against the back wall, dusty from the lack of use and probably acknowledgement. They stopped just before it, letting Gooey search around for any new tastes for the time being.

“This is it,” he declared. “It’s just a regular mirror right now, but I can change that. One moment.”

With one elaborate wave of his hands and some incoherent chanting, their reflections all disappeared, becoming replaced with a spiral in the center that sucked it all up into nothingness. Left behind was a short sparkle, reflecting itself in Mags’ eyes that watched in awe at such an elaborate incantation. A short moment of silence followed, then a bright light blasted out of the shiny surface, forcing all but Gooey—who was more concerned about counting how many bricks were in the room—to shut their eyes. Upon looking back, a grassy field met their gazes, bright and sunny as they remembered it.

“There you go.” He stepped to the side and motioned toward the entrance. “Just step through and you’ll be back home. I can’t set the exact destination, so this is as close as you can get. Pretty sure it’ll lead to the nearest mirror on your homeworld's counterpart to this location.”

“Thank you for all the assistance, you have our gratitude.”

“Eh, don’t mention it. Anyways, I’ll leave you guys at this, I got minions to set free. Nice knowing you guys, even if we were only on good terms for a moment.”

A quick wave, then he snapped himself away. Say, that teleportation looked quite handy... maybe he ought to learn that move himself.

Susie moved towards their gateway home a short distance, then turned back to him.

“I’m sure your caretaker would be worried about having you gone for so long, yes?”

What could he say to that? It wasn’t like he was about to say he didn’t have one, but she expected an answer. Without any other ideas, he nodded.

“Let’s get you home, then.” Well... about that...

Gooey burst forward, blocking their path forward for a moment before stopping just in front of the mirror, eyeing it with a hungry look. Whether he’d actually try to eat it was a mystery to them both, though if he did, the results were obvious.

A moment passed of him looking for his reflection to have a staring contest with, but without any luck, he attacked it with a tackle, having absolutely no effect on the mirror. Instead, he was sent through it, disappearing with a short burst of light that forced their hands in front of their eyes once more. Looked like it worked, at least.

Susie took his hand, looking him down with what she probably hoped was reassurance, though he had no idea.

“Time to go,” she said softly.

The two made their way forward, stopping upon reaching their destination. If he had mastered the skill, he probably would have been able to sense a magical aura being emitted off the surface.

Even though he wasn’t exactly afraid of any possible danger that might come from entering, he still felt a little uneasy about entering. He didn’t even know why. It could’ve been that he’d have to abandon the kindest person he’d ever met and return back to his state as a wanderer, which seemed likely. Hopefully he’d be able to find that one group of kids to trail again, else he’d have to find a new form of food, and fast. The voices of them could already be heard within his head, calling out to each other, playing, laughing, doing everything he had ever dreamed of. Then, they came louder, and seemingly from more than just his head. Oh, he really wished he could just—

“Wait!” From behind, his clone had teleported back in, holding the book he had given up earlier. “You forgot this.”

He quickly approached the two and placed it just in front of him, though no move was made to take it. Upon realizing what it was, though, he quickly snagged it away. Maybe too quickly, actually. Whoops.

“Oh, thanks,” he muttered.

“No problem. Anyways _now_ I’m truly going. Nice knowing you for a while, but I gotta go now. Maybe we’ll cross paths again?”

He repeated the earlier procedure of exiting, leaving the other two just as they’d been before his entrance. That was definitely the last chance he’d ever get to ask if he could stay, so looked like things were going back to normal again.

“Would you like me to accompany you on the trip through?”

He almost didn’t notice a question was asked, and he nodded. It was such a nice experience, knowing Susie, Gooey, even Shadow’s assistant. All were what he could maybe call... something. Something more than just strangers. They’d all—except for one, mostly—actually felt like helping him, comforting him. He was merely a stranger to them, even now, but really, that was alright. It wasn’t like he was going back to any of them, ever, and really?

That was alright.

What he’d received was a whole lot of what he’d asked for all this time. Sooner or later, the universe would find some way to provide a suitable punishment for its generosity. But fine.

If the world really worked in such an upside down manner, existing far below the realm where logic thrived, then fine.

So be it.


End file.
